


boss

by londoneyedgirl



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Hacker Mark, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee Are Best Friends, M/M, rating will go higher eventually, this isn't dark i think but then again i have no clue of what i'm doing so, update the rating went upp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-04-25 03:29:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14369952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londoneyedgirl/pseuds/londoneyedgirl
Summary: “In a world with no consequences, why are you still playing the 'good’ side?” TY's voice is low, so low in his ear, curious, and Mark feels his heart beating faster by the second, pressed against TY's chest, his heartbeat different from the calm, steady rhythm of TY's heart. His words reflect a line of thought, a question that Mark's been asked many times before; this time, however, the words truly sink in, and Mark can't find it in himself to give a truthful reply. He can barely make a sound.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i have no clue what this is either don't even look at me  
> my friends said the snippets i've shown them of this are good tho so  
> the line ty says to mark in the summary i got from a tumblr post 2818412 years ago and i really felt that but i searched it on google to give it proper credit but i couldn't find the source? anyway  
> btw before i get Jumped they're aged up in this  
> anyway let's see how this goes

“Hello, Mark Lee.” 

In hindsight, Mark should have been expecting it. He shouldn't have taken the warnings for granted, shouldn't have taken himself for granted, shouldn't have taken lightly what he should have given it more credit. There are plenty of excuses he could give himself for not being ready, but he doesn't really deserve to be excused. He sort of brought this on himself.

A shiver runs down his spine and he raises his gaze from the floor to the face of the man in front of him, leaning back against the wall, inside his home. Mark gulps. The man is nothing like what he should be like; the man in front of Mark is beautiful, too beautiful to be there, doing what Mark knows he is. He has pitch dark black hair, and his equally dark eyes manage to be as fixed and intent as they are provocative. Everything about his stance reflects an amount of confidence that Mark can’t help but recognize instantly: he sees it in himself. But there’s something else about that man, too - something like power, there’s an air to him that implies he has a right to anything, like breaking and entering Mark’s place.

Mark can’t help but take a step back, one of his hands blindly searching for the doorknob behind his back. The other man tilts his head. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His tone - it sends Mark’s heart into overdrive. His hands are shaking, and there’s fear in him, so much fear, but he stops trying to reach for the doorknob. Any other way out would have to go through the other man, and escaping through the door could land him with a bullet on his back - he hasn’t seen whether the other man even has a gun, but it’s very likely that he does. There’s nothing he can do. His hands go slack and they rest on his sides, arms parallel to his body. “That’s it. Very good.”

A million thoughts run through Mark’s head. Who is this man and what he wants is what Mark worries the most about - Donghyuck had told him, jokingly, but still, that people could come for him, kill him, kidnap him or worse, and Mark had laughed and shrugged it off, because who would care about some kid on the internet doing random coding for fun? He'd never even considered it. But now, with this man standing in front of him, Mark thinks that he was wrong. He hates being wrong.

This man looks very much like a very attractive version of bad news.

The dangerous stranger watched him as Mark kept silent, watching him back. Mark knew his face was an odd mix of anger and resentment of himself and fear of the stranger, and he faintly wonders what the stranger must think of him. A dumb kid, reckless and careless, someone he’ll have to kill, maybe; although the more he thinks about it, the more Mark doubts he’d get killed. He never really found anything that could be useful to the wrong people online, especially because he never went looking. He could do it, yeah, but all he used his coding and his _talent_ of going in deep in the web was for gaming purposes only. Still, he knows he’s more useful to that stranger alive than dead.

He wonders if he’ll get a chance to escape, or if he’ll end up in the trunk of a car in the next hour.

“My name is TY.” The stranger starts, probably tired of just looking at Mark. He tilts his head, and narrows his eyes for a split-second, and Mark shrinks a bit into himself under the stranger’s - _TY’s_ \- scrutinizing eyes. “I’m part of an organization - NCT127, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it - and it has come to our attention that you have skills that would be really, _really_ useful to us.”

Toying with the hem of his sweater in the way he usually does when he gets nervous, Mark can’t help the words that escape his mouth. “Organization, huh? And what kind of organization would that be?” He regrets his words instantly. He needs to think before he speaks, he knows it, but his hands are shaking and his palms are sweating and there’s this stranger who’s both attractive and dangerous, and Mark’s _freaking the fuck out_.

Of course he knows NCT127. Everyone in the city has heard that name. Usually on the TV News.

TY snorts a bit like he can’t help himself, seeming amused. “None that you would know of.” His eyes never quite leave Mark, and it only serves to make Mark more nervous. “The only thing you need to know is that you will be well-paid.”

Gulping, Mark has to ask, “And if I say I’m not interested?”

Whatever amusement that could be on TY’s face is completely wiped out, and his countenance changes, something a lot more menacing and way less friendly than before. “I’d ask you to reconsider.”

It doesn’t sound like he’s being asked. 

Mark looks away, again, and checks all the ways out he could possibly use to escape. Checks again. Comes back to the same conclusion he’d reached before: there’s no way out. He looks back at TY, who’s pushed himself off the wall and is now just standing there in an imposing stance that makes Mark wanna glue himself even more to the door behind him than he already is. He takes in deep breaths trying to calm himself down, and he’s sure that if he closes his eyes, he’ll be able to forget his current situation for time enough for him to do just that. Calms down a bit.

And then TY starts walking towards him, and panic settles back in a lot harder than it had been previously.

Before he knows it, TY’s right there, too close, way too close. He’s feeling so many things at once, and so many thoughts are going through his head, and Mark doesn’t know what to do, or how to react.

So he doesn’t. 

TY has Mark pinned against the wall, their bodies touching in every way the position allows, and Mark can barely breathe. There's something in the way TY's looking at him, intense, authoritative, and Mark doesn't know whether he wants to kiss him or flee.

TY raises his hand, and Mark tries not to flinch. TY raises an eyebrow, slightly judgemental. “If I wanted to hit you, I already would have. But I don't believe that's what you need to be _convinced_.” Leaning in closer, so his mouth is close to Mark’s ear, TY lets the back of his knuckles brush Mark's cheek, a gentle touch, and Mark shudders. The corner of TY's mouth twitches in a hint of a smile. The back of his hand continues to go lower, touching a bit of Mark's collarbone where his sweater shows how old and used it is, and then it follows the line of Mark's side, faintly feeling Mark's ribs over the thin fabric. 

TY's hand comes to a stop on Mark's hip, curling around it with a grip that's as gentle as it is firm, and Mark's mouth feels dry. Mark opens his mouth, but no words come out. This is nothing that he could ever expect. He's always lived by the rule of “expect the unexpectable”, but he could never be prepared for this.

“In a world with no consequences, why are you still playing the 'good’ side?” TY's voice is low, so low in his ear, curious, and Mark feels his heart beating faster by the second, pressed against TY's chest, his heartbeat different from the calm, steady rhythm of TY's heart. His words reflect a line of thought, a question that Mark's been asked many times before; this time, however, the words truly sink in, and Mark can't find it in himself to give a truthful reply. He can barely make a sound.

TY pulls away and Mark nearly follows him.

Taking two steps back, TY puts his hands into the pockets of his jeans, eyeing Mark with a bit curiosity and, if he dares say, hunger, that mixes with the overall serious look he has in his eyes. It lasts only for a moment, before his face is blank. Unreadable. “Step away from the door.” Mark does as he’s told, and TY walks to the door, turning to look at Mark. “You have a week from now to choose to come willingly. Choose wisely. You don't need me to tell you what's at stake.” And then he turns to leave.

“Come where?” Mark needs to ask, even if he doesn't want to, even if he just wants to run away. He knows he can't. “How do I- How do I contact you?”

“Don't worry. I'll be in touch.” It feels like a threat. Mark is sure it is one. TY turns to leave, then, opening the door and stepping outside Mark’s apartment, and Mark's so, so anxious, just wanting TY to leave already so he can think and find a way to deal with this.

And then TY comes to a halt. “You're lucky it was me who came, you know.” TY throws casually over his shoulder, as though it means nothing at all. “I don't think you would have liked the others’ methods of _convincing_.” And then he walks away, and Mark let's out the breath he was holding in. He runs and closes the door and locks it, even if he knows it doesn't matter if he does so or not. That didn't stop TY before.

-

The thing is, Mark doesn't know how they came to hear about him. Yes, he is incredibly good with all things computer and internet and coding involved, he's always been self-assured and he's not gonna be fake-insecure now, even if his life is in danger, but he's never done anything illegal like he was sure TY's _organization_ wanted him to do.

Here's what Mark usually did: he dug deep into the internet, finding out ways to change coding of online games so that he and his friends would win; he would make small changes in his friends’ grades sometimes, in case they were failing a class; and other harmless things like that.

But then, there were the times he hacked into the mainframe of big gaming companies and stole high-demand games days before its release, and profited from that. There were the two times he had accepted to hack into engineering companies and stole projects, until the ethics and morality he had been taught since infancy had him decline other offers because in the back of his mind, those things told him he was doing something wrong.

But these times were the reason why he could afford to live alone. Even if where he lived wasn't the most expensive of places, he already had the money to move to a better place in the near future. He was just waiting for enough time to pass for his family not to question how he'd managed to live in better conditions, considering they all thought he was an intern at a computer company while he was studying at university.

The only part of that that’s true is the university part. That he truly does, attends gladly, misses it now during break, loves every second of it, even if he already knows all that he sees there, knows more than everyone in his classrooms, professors included. That wasn't unusual, though - he was some sort of genius.

Well, not genius enough to see this coming.

Sitting on his couch, leaning forward, hands on his head, Mark tries to think. He needs a way out; a bargaining chip, maybe?

That's ridiculous. He shakes his head, snorts at his own stupidity. No one bargains with gangs, mobs, or whatever the hell NCT127 specifically is.

Mark can feel the anger bubbling up inside himself, tears of rage and frustration filling his eyes. He’s absolutely _helpless._ His life is hanging by a thread; he's been threatened to join a _gang_ ; they broke into his house; and there’s nothing he can do about it. Nothing. He has literally no choice, no say in this.

He clenches his jaw, bites his tongue so he won't scream. Then, takes a few breaths, calms himself down, and decides to close everything, go to bed, and get some rest. If he's lucky, he'll suffocate in his sleep. Mark snorts at the thought.

He has all day tomorrow - hell, the rest of the week - to stress over this, but now he's just tired. It's only a bit past eight p.m. now, but he's so tired. He only has time to turn off the lights before falling into bed and pretty much passing out.

-

The following week is the most tense Mark has had in his life.

Mark doesn’t visit his family. He wants to, at least to say goodbye, the uncertainty of his future settling within him, but he can’t afford to put them in danger. He doesn’t know if NCT127 already know where his family is, but he’s not gonna risk it on the chance that they don’t. He calls his family instead, and tries to keep himself from acting like that would be the last time he’d talk to them, even if felt like that.

Something in him tells him he’s being too dramatic, but he genuinely just doesn’t care.

He talks to Donghyuck, too. Mark’s well aware that if that organization is scouting him, or whatever else he can call it, then they’re most likely out of someone in that area; still, he covers his tracks, uses every possible trick he’s got up his sleeve, both to keep Donghyuck safe and so that, on the off-chance that whoever TY works for has someone keeping tabs on him online, he won’t get caught.

Donghyuck’s reaction is about the same as he expected.

“You fucking donkey.” Mark nearly laughs at it, half amused, half as desperate as Donghyuck sounds through the videocall. “I fucking told you so. I told you not to do that last job, that it seemed too shady. Did you pay attention to me, your smarter friend? No, you fucking didn’t.”

Donghyuck is an old friend of Mark’s. They went to school together, but when Donghyuck turned sixteen, his parents split up and he ended up moving to another town to live with his mom. They’ve always had similar interests, but while Mark’s main focus was overall technology, Donghyuck had ended up focusing on the gaming technology. He’d had a hand in Mark’s works involving gaming companies, even if he was strongly against it, because Mark had asked for help. He was planning on going to Seoul to live with Mark on the next semester, but Mark supposes that plan is done with, now.

“What are you going to do, now?” Donghyuck asks, his voice now a lot less angry and more worried than before. Mark shrugs, biting down onto his lower lip. It’s been three days since TY had been in his apartment, and Mark hasn’t left it ever since.

“Go through with it.”

Donghyuck gapes at him. “But- You can’t do that. You’re gonna be a part of a _gang_ , Mark, what the fuck?”

Shrugging again, Mark runs a nervous hand through his own hair. “We don’t know how all of this will go, Donghyuck.” There’s no conviction to his words, he doesn’t believe them at all, but he’s as clueless to his future as is Donghyuck. “Besides, I don’t have much of a choice. What do you want me to do, say 'no’ and end up dead in a ditch somewhere?”

Donghyuck opens his mouth, but seems to give up on what he was going to say before a sound comes out. He deflates. “This is so fucked up.”

“It is.” Mark agrees, snorting humorlessly. “Actually, ‘fucked up’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

-

By the time the week he was given is done, Mark has, overall, made peace with his current situation and near future. He’s not stupid - he knows that the fact that he was given that week was both a power move and a strategy to see how he’d react to it. They’re probably satisfied that he didn’t go running to the police or running away to anywhere. He knows _he’s_ proud of himself for not completely bolting and risking the lives of his family and friends.

It’s 6 p.m. on a Friday night. A part of him wishes, hopes stupidly that he’s been forgotten, but deep down, he knows that isn’t possible. And the night’s still young.

Mark hears knocks on his door and frowns, confused. Standing up, he walks to his door and opens it.

On the other side of the door stands TY, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. Mark catches the corner of his mouth twitching. “Hello, Mark.” And a shiver runs down Mark’s spine. He wonders when he’ll stop reacting at TY like that, whether it be out of fear or something else.

Mark takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Hello, TY.”

“Ready?”

Mark holds in the strong urge to snort, but he can’t help raising his eyebrows sarcastically. A wave of regret hits him instantly, fueled by an apprehension of TY’s reaction to it, but TY only chuckles slightly, exhaling out of his nose.

“Understandable.” Is what TY has to say, and a small bit of the tension in Mark’s body leaves him. “Let’s go.”

Mark doesn’t question him. He grabs his own hoodie, shrugging it on, and then he grabs his keys. He looks around his apartment, and wonders if he’s even making it back. Takes another deep breath, a longer one now. Lets all the air out.

Once he looks back at TY, he finds the older man looking at him with unmasked curiosity. Tilting his head, Mark wonders what could TY possibly be curious about him; in fact, what could TY be curious at all? TY comes across to him as someone who doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t concern him, and his seeming curiosity goes against that.

TY doesn’t look at him for long. He turns around, then, and walks away, not needing to say another word to indicate that Mark should follow him.

Mark follows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smth smth tell me what you think maybe? uwu  
> follow @markyongpics on twitter~~~


	2. Chapter 2

TY is driving a common car - one of those you see often in any city road. It’s dark, simple, inconspicuous, and doesn’t look like it’s an excessively expensive car or a very cheap one. It’s the perfect car to pass by unnoticed.

It’s also a great car to drive a dead body to be dumped under a bridge.

Mark can’t help his own thoughts. He's being driven straight into the wolf’s mouth - one wrong move and the wolf might eat him whole. He doesn't know what will be demanded of him, he doesn't know how his life will change from now on, and he's particularly scared of meeting the leader of this group. The situation is just all, to put it simply, shitty and scary as fuck.

Now, Mark has to hand it to TY, though: the man didn't do or say anything that made Mark feel threatened the whole time he drove there, except for the, you know, locked car doors and the whole driving Mark to an unknown place business. To be more accurate, TY hadn't spoken a single word since they'd gotten into the car, except when, right in that moment, Mark had asked if he could roll down the windows. TY had said, “no”, and then proceeded to turn on the air conditioner.

After that, a little bit later on the way, Mark had asked if he could turn on the radio. TY hadn't said anything then, but he'd done the world gesture for “go on”, so Mark took the liberty to do as he wanted. He zapped between stations for a while and eventually settled on a r&b song with a laid-back flow, leaning back to appreciate the song and try to distract himself.

He feels TY's eyes on him, then. Mark can feel the curiosity in TY's look, but he doesn't think he has enough courage to stare back at TY. He also doesn't know why TY looks so curious about him. So Mark does nothing. He just bobs his head lightly to the beat of the song, and tries to ignore the fact that he feels a bit of disappointment when TY stopped looking at him and didn't look again until they arrived wherever they had to be.

-

Mark doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed when he’s told that he’s not going to be meeting the one they call “Boss”. After arriving at a discreet, unremarkable-looking bulding and being guided inside by TY, Mark followed TY and let himself be led deeper and deeper into it, walking past a few people who blatantly stared at him. Two girls, playing with the sharp-looking knives they have in hands, looked at him like they could straight up cut him up and feed him to the dogs without breaking a sweat, and that only made Mark walk faster.

Mark knows what he must look like to them. He’s on the skinny side of lean, and although he’s not short, he’s not remarkably tall, either. He’s a bit taller than TY, though, but then again, TY has the ability to exude some sort of don’t-look-at-me-or-you’ll-regret-it vibe, which is something Mark absolutely doesn’t have. Mark knows he very much looks like just an idiot nerd, and the only way he could possibly look even more ridiculous would be if he had glasses on. Nothing about him is intimidating.

But he’s being brought here for a reason, and that reason is that they need him. At the very least, he supposes they don’t have an interest on doing all this and then have their own time wasted by just killing him without giving him a chance. Even if there _are_ other hackers or similar around town.

Instead of meeting the Boss, he’s led into a neat-looking but also very impersonal office, where he meets Jaehyun.

Jaehyun has a friendly face, but when Mark first sees it, it looks like it’s in a way that’s probably to unsettle the people to whom he’s talking. He smiles widely at Mark when he sees him, kicks those people off the room, and settles in the big leather chair behind the desk, leaning back on it, a menacing sparkle to his eyes. “You must be Mark!”

Mark notices that TY hasn’t left the room. For some reason, he feels some sort of relief because of it, and supposes if he’s in an unknown environment, surrounded by unknown, dangerous people, at least there’s someone in the room who hasn’t looked at him like they were planning to kill him on his first mistake.

“Yes, I am.” Mark replies, not daring to sit down on the chair in front of him if not told to do so, and holding back the urge to look back just to needlessly confirm TY’s still there. “And you are?”

There’s a look of amused surprised on Jaehyun’s face, and Mark watches as Jaehyun throws that look at TY’s direction, near the door, for a second, before he’s focusing on Mark again. “I’m Jaehyun, Mr. Lee’s right hand and second in charge of NCT. You can sit if you’d like.”

Mark does as he’s offered. He tries not to move his legs too much, jittery as he is, but he knows his nervousness is still showing, with how much Jaehyun pays attention to Mark’s never-stopping hands, fidgeting.

“Let’s not drag this for too long.” Jaehyun leans in, then, crossed hands settling on top of the table. He eyes pointedly at Mark’s own hands. “You can stop being nervous now. We’re not going to kill you.” The _‘yet’_ goes unspoken, but Mark catches it clearly. 

“Your job isn’t hard or necessarily dangerous. We’ll give you assignments - ask for files, specific information, and to be alert on any danger, direct or indirect, to NCT. You’re a smart guy, you get the gist. And you’re to report to TY only.” Jaehyun’s eyes stay on him through the whole time, and Mark feels like he’d be dooming himself if he looked away. So he doesn’t. “If you don’t accept the job, you and all those who are important to you will die. If you accept the job and go to the police - and trust me, we’ll know - you and all those who are important to you will die. If you accept the job and don’t do it… Well, you already got the picture.” Jaehyun waves a hand lightly.

Mark’s heart feels like it’s in his throat. “I do.”

Jaehyun continues as though Mark hasn’t said anything. “TY will fill you in everything else that you need to know, should you accept the job. Will you?”

There’s no other possible answer. Mark can feel TY’s eyes on the back of his head. “Yes.”

“Good!” The smile Jaehyun flashes him resembles one of a shark. He turns to look at TY and the smile disappears, although Jaehyun still looks satisfied. “TY, I need a moment with you. Mark, you can wait outside.”

Mark doesn’t even think, barely processes his words before he’s standing up and walking out of the room, eyes unfocused. His heart beats so fast, his breathing going faster, and his hands are curled into tight fists, although he doesn’t know why. He stands by the closed doors, leaning his whole weight completely against the wall, and tries not to pass out. 

Once he’s willed his breathing back to normal, and his heartbeat stops seeming like it’ll jump out of his chest, Mark notices that he can’t hear anything from inside the room he was in. The walls seem soundproof, which makes sense, and he feels frustrated, though he doesn’t know whether it’s because he wanted to know what Jaehyun and TY were talking about or because he needs a distraction, any distraction, from going down the rabbit hole that is his mind right now.

Luckily, either his freak out lasted too long or the talk in the room was short, because soon TY’s walking out of the room. He looks at Mark for only a small moment. “Let’s go.” And walks away, Mark following right after.

How does one react normally to getting scouted and forced into a gang? How does one feel? Mark struggles with all the thoughts in his head, like the constant one that says that he’s straying from where he’s supposed to go, that he shouldn’t let himself be pulled into this situation, that he should do anything, anything to keep him from doing what’s wrong, from joining a gang. Anything. Even get himself killed, and all his loved ones, too.

“You don’t contact us; we contact you.” TY starts as he drives them back to Mark’s house, and Mark is pulled out of his own head. He turns to look at TY just in time to see the latter reaching for the glove compartment of the car. TY pulls out a disposable phone and drops it on Mark’s lap. He doesn’t look at Mark at all. “In case there is an emergency - say, you get word that NCT127 is in danger or any variable of it - there’s only one number saved in this phone: mine. Call me and I’ll come to you. Are you following?”

“Yeah.” Mark croaks out, checking out the phone in his hand, turning it from one side to the other. It’s a simple phone, one of those that only have the texting and calling options, and maybe that snake mobile game from the 90’s. The corners of Mark’s lips nearly curl into a smile at that thought.

“We’ll have check-ups every fifteen days. You can carry on with your life as usual, as long as you don’t do the obvious: don’t talk to the cops, don’t slack on your job, don’t skip on our meetings. I’ll text you each time with a different location for us to talk. Whatever you need to operate, you text me or tell me in person when we meet.” TY says it all as though he’s said this many times before, and maybe he has. He shrugs. “Your payment will go to the account you’ve got on the Cayman Islands. And yes,” they’ve come to a red light and only then does TY turn his head to look at Mark’s shocked expression and meet Mark’s widened eyes. “We know about that.”

Mark gulps down, and looks away before nodding, biting on the inside of his bottom lip.

TY seems to take pity on him then, just as the light turns green and he drives ahead. “You’ll do well.” The words surprise Mark. Ever since the day TY had broken into Mark’s house and told him of NCT127, when TY had approached him in that way, TY had barely shown any interest in Mark. Mark hadn’t realized how much he had cared about that until now.

There’s conflict within Mark. On one hand, he feels like this is an entrapping situation; on the other, he feels curious and drawn into it. He shakes his head lightly, nearly imperceptible, trying to shake the thoughts of his head. “It’s not like I have a choice.”

“I didn’t, either.”

Mark doesn't reply, but he does take a deep breath. He doesn’t ask anything - it’s none of his business, and it’s not like TY would tell him, anyway. But he can’t help but wonder how hard a life TY has had, and what were the circumstances that led him into this gang.

-

As soon as TY drops him off, the tornado inside Mark picks off exactly where it had stopped earlier.

Mark doesn't know what to think, and his mind is working at 300 miles per hour. He feels like he’s giving in too easily to the situation, and he feels like he’s in an inescapable situation overall. Clashing thoughts and feelings inside him, and he can’t stop stressing.

He isn't a bad person, he doesn't do things like that. Most of the risky things he's done, he did so when he was a stupid kid, young, testing himself, seeing just how much he could do, just how far he could go. The last time had been a fluke - a couple of months ago, somehow, he'd gotten so excited by the idea of the risk, the danger, and he'd only realized what he was in until it was too late for him to back out.

The truth is he's always been someone objective, in a way that he doesn't bother worrying about things he can't change, situation he can't get out. And maybe that’s why he’s still thinking about this situation - because as much as NCT127 would like, even though he's been trying to convince himself of it this whole time, this isn't a situation that Mark can't get out.

It truly sinks in, then. He admits it to himself. He knows this doesn't have to be permanent, being part of a dangerous gang, known all over the city and feared by the whole country; if he'd wanted to, he'd already have made a plan to leave it; and maybe it'd take him two, three months, tops for him to execute it, but it’d go exactly like he planned.

But deep inside of him, he knows it's not what he wants. He can make that plan, and keep it as back-up in case things don't go in a positive way for him, but he's _curious_. Interested. All this time, the whole week, through the whole encounter with Jaehyun, the way there and back with TY, he'd been trying to convince himself that he doesn't want this and that he's scared of it, but he does.

He wants it.

That doesn't make him a bad person, does it?

-

Mark wouldn’t call himself a hacker. Hackers are more often than not on the wrong side of the law, on the _bad_ side, and that wouldn't be him, he thinks. But he is on the wrong side of the law, now, in this exact moment. He doesn't know how he feels about that.

Since Mark was a kid, the definition of right and wrong has always been fascinating to him. As he grew, he realized that things weren't always black or white, that people didn't polarize themselves often as right or wrong - as good or bad. There were grey areas. His parents believe that grey areas exist as stepping stones into either polar. Mark didn't see things like that, but it comes to him, as he drifts his mind that there might have been some truth to that; and that, unlike he'd thought, he's been living in a grey moral/ethical area for a long time, now.

Mark texts TY on the next day with a very detailed list of what he needs. Most of those things he owns already, but in the nearly impossible case that he gets caught, he's not gonna get caught using his own material.

He's always been good at thinking ahead.

What's darker than grey but not yet as dark as black?

TY only replies that he'll have everything dropped off as soon as possible. He makes true on his word and on Monday morning everything he's asked for is in the living room of his apartment. Twisting his mouth, Mark goes back to his room to get his work phone.

_to TY at 9:34am_

_i guess it'd be too much to ask now for you not to break into my apartment?_

Mark has already learned that TY isn't a fast replier, so Mark just puts the phone away and goes back to the material he's just been given. He spends the next couple of hours setting things up on the new laptop and its accessories. It's only after he's done that he checks the phone again.

_from TY at 10:13pm_

_exactly_

Mark half-laughs to himself, half-huffs. He doesn't know what he expected.

-

On Saturday, Mark had talked to Donghyuck, if only to let him know he's not dead in a ditch somewhere. Donghyuck was a lot more level-headed, which is good for Mark, considering he wasn't keen on going through a part two of the last chat they'd had, and he just really wanted to talk to his friend like a normal person.

During the week, as he does some grocery shopping, the conversation flows and it's comfortable again, enough that Mark doesn't even notice he's talking about TY until it's too late.

“What do you mean, ‘TY’s ridiculously good-looking face’?” Donghyuck questions, holding back a clear laugh. Mark widens his eyes, and is glad this time it isn't a videocall.

He really shouldn't have gotten so distracted on which ramen he should get.

“Huh?” He feigns confusion, trying to buy himself time to find an excuse as to why he was telling Donghyuck about how beautiful TY is.

He can't find any, except the most obvious. “You just said that TY stares at you sometimes with his ridiculously good-looking face. You didn't tell me he was attractive.” Donghyuck teases.

“I didn't think that was important.” Mark mutters, more to himself than to Donghyuck, as he ends up picking the chicken-flavored ramen. “He's just- he's very handsome.”

Silence follows, and Mark frowns. Since Donghyuck is offering himself to hear it, he might as well talk about it. “Plus, ever since he goddamn _flirted_ with me after _breaking_ _in_ my apartment, he’s barely given me the time of day.” If he ignores that moment of encouragement in the car, it's pretty much the truth.

“He _flirted_ with you?” Mark can practically see Donghyuck’s shocked face, his eyes wide, eyebrows high, comically so. “When were you going to tell me about it?”

Mark shrugs, despite being aware Donghyuck can't see him. “Just slipped my mind.” And it was true - he really hadn't thought about it talking to Donghyuck until now. That he thinks about it often on the daily is a whole other thing.

He ends up telling Donghyuck everything about TY - about his _ridiculously good-looking_ _face_ , about the flirting, about the distancing, about the reassurance. He only finished talking about it once he's just done passing by the cashier.

“Isn't there a Britney Spears’ song about falling in love with a criminal?” Donghyuck asks, sounding actually thoughtful.

Snorting, Mark grabs his cart and starts driving outside to ask for a cab. He should probably get himself a car sometime soon. “I didn't know you listened to Britney Spears.”

“She has some great, catchy songs.” Donghyuck sounds unapologetic, and Mark makes a mental note to check out whatever song Donghyuck’s talking about later. “Besides, it's 2018. I’m not about that fragile masculinity.”

-

Friday finds Mark sitting for a whole hour at a local bar with TY running late. Mark's hardly one to wait for long after someone leaves him waiting, but every time he considers going home, he remembers it's his life that's at stake and pipes down.

Mark didn't plan on drinking, but when TY gets there he's drinking his second beer. The place had been pretty chill, but by then the place is pretty full, so as soon as he sees TY walk into the bar, he waves at him from the booth in which he's sitting.

“I guess I’m not getting an apology for sitting here for over an hour without a single satisfaction.” Mark states, taking a sip of his beer right after.

TY raises his eyebrows, amused. “You got that right! So you really are as smart as I thought.” He retorts, sliding onto the spot opposite to Mark in the booth. “Or you're just really good at guessing.”

Mark snorts.

There isn't much to say. Mark reports how he used all the material, not going as low as completely dumbing it down, but using less technical terms than he would if he were talking to, say, Donghyuck, or Jisung and Jeno, his friends from college.

Mark elaborates on how things work, and how and where he'll be keeping watch for information. And then he tells TY about how it's all very peaceful. He tells TY about how working on fighting gangs is something currently secondary now, what with the current disharmony within the military and the tension between them and the police, but that it's there nonetheless.

TY didn't seem to expect any different, but he doesn't seem disappointed either, so Mark assumes he gets to keep his life for another week.

“That's all.” Mark says once he finishes, and then silence settles between them. The bar-restaurant is loud now, but the silence between them feels louder. “Um, so I guess I’ll be going now.” And Mark raises his hand to call over the waiter, seeing him come his way.

“Hey, what's the rush?” TY asks, and he seems to settle back comfortably on his seat, one hand resting with the palm up and open on the table, the other out of sight. “You're already here anyway. Have a beer with me. You don't have anywhere else to be, do you?”

Mark looks at him, then. Despite the power imbalance that exists between them right now, one that comes with being forced into a gang and also being fairly new to It, he dares look right at TY - at his face, into his dark eyes, pays attention to his features, to his lips pressed together in a thin line, and to how his black hair falls a bit on his face.

The way TY looked when he said that, the way he looks right now - that would seem intimidating to anyone, rightfully so, and that's what he seems to be going for, too; but when Mark decides to stay, it's not because he's intimidated. It's because he's interested. Curious. He feels very much like a prey who's already been caught but still paws and nags at their predator, pokes at them, to get a reaction out of them, perhaps so they will put the prey out of their misery.

Danger has always been something that made Mark forget rationality, and everything about TY is dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tag yourself im mark being that "like, it scared me, but it also gave me, like, a boner at the same time" meme  
> anyway tell me what you think! i have no idea whether this is good and makes sense or not lmao


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> buckle up kids, this is a big one  
> also, smth smth all mistakes are my own, point them out if you see any pls smth smth

Sometime during Mark's second week in the gang, TY texts Mark to tell him that Jaehyun wants him to go to the base on the following day and that he'll be picking him up at four in the afternoon. There isn’t any question on that, so Mark just rolls his eyes and goes on with his life.

On the following day - a Tuesday - TY shows up at his place around the same time he showed up the last time he was there to pick him up. He knocks this time, also. TY seems to be in a good mood, because when Mark asks if he can turn on the radio, he actually gets a verbal reply - even if he TY only says “sure” and doesn’t seem like he’s paying much attention to it - and then really seems to enjoy the music that Mark settles to let it play, in the same style as the last time, which Mark notices when he starts moving his head lightly in the beat of the song.

Mark can’t help the small smile that gets on his face.

After their first check-up at that restaurant-bar, Mark had gotten a longer look into the person that TY was. At first, he had tried to look at him thoroughly, underneath all the danger and menace, but it didn’t take long to realize that no matter how much he looked, he wouldn’t find a layer where the danger was lacking. That was just part of who TY is.

Through their chat, although a bit stilted in the beginning, Mark realized that they have a very similar kind of humor. They’re sarcastic, share some views - even if it’s just on how American food is terrible and that many try but Korean barbecue is the best - and that’s what got their conversation rolling so smoothly, in favor of Mark’s hopes and against TY’s probable expectations.

TY doesn’t take him to Jaehyun’s office, this time. Instead, he takes him in a different direction, past the guards that Mark hadn’t even noticed the last time and going left in a dark corridor. It leads to what it seems is like a lounging room, and it’s... full of people. Dangerously-looking people. People who could probably kill him in the blink of an eye - yeah, there they are, the two black-haired girls who look like death in the most beautiful way. Suddenly everyone's eyes are on Mark, and Mark feels torn inside, body reactions trying to decide whether to make his shock and apprehension obvious or if he should just completely freeze and do nothing at all forever till the end of his days.

In the end, Mark doesn't have to do anything, because TY comes from behind him and uses his _beauty_ to attract the attention to himself as he walks away and leaves Mark behind - at least, that's what Mark assumes he does. Regardless, he takes the chance and sits down on the first empty sofa he sees and tries to make himself disappear into it.

He fails spectacularly, he supposes, because two minutes later someone's dropping down next to him on the couch.

Mark takes a look, and isn't disappointed: the man is really handsome. With short, ashy blond hair, and light eyes that Mark can't tell whether they're green or blue, he looks about Mark's age, but something in the way he holds himself implies he may be at least a little older.

“Hi, I’m Ten.” The man - Ten - says, as direct as one could possibly be, and Mark tilts his head in curiosity, furrowing his eyebrows for a split second. “And you're Mark, our new hacker!”

Mark winces unconsciously at the word, and he doesn't miss Ten’s eyes on him, attentive to his every move. “Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you.” He says it mostly out of politeness, all things considered, but truth be told, Ten doesn't seem all that bad.

“You're so much prettier than our last hacker.” Ten comments, and Mark huffs out a surprised laugh. One corner of Ten's mouth tilts upwards in a smirk, seemingly entertained.

Mark turns his head to look away for a moment and gather his thoughts, and then he turns to face Ten once again. “So you guys _did_ have a hacker before me.”

“Yep.” The 'p’ pops when Ten replies, leaning back on the chair with the natural ease of someone perfectly comfortable where he is. “We had a hackie before.”

“And what happened to this ‘ _hackie_ ’?” Mark asks, kinda already knowing what sort of answer to expect, but not managing to keep himself from asking anyway.

“Ah, he just- well, he got into an accident.” There was something akin to fake bashfulness in Ten's expression when he says it, something Mark can't help but find it interesting. Ten smiles, blindingly bright, bordering flirty. “Those happen, don't they?”

There's something in the way Ten is looking at him, like he's got Mark completely figured out. Like he's slipped under Mark's skin and read his every thought. Mark feels uneasy, naked under Ten's 

Mark, feeling slightly uneasy and suddenly naked under Ten's scrutinizing gaze. “Yeah.” He agrees. “Yeah, that, they do.”

Ten doesn't say anything else after that and Mark doesn't feel like continuing that conversation or starting a new one - he wouldn't even know where to start. He turns his head and finds the rest of the room watching him. He hadn't even noticed the room had gone silent.

He doesn’t like much to be the center of attention. He looks down and keeps his eyes away from anyone else’s.

“Mark!” He hears a familiar voice and raises his head, to find the vice-leader himself, Jaehyun. He stands by the very door Mark had walked through earlier, and TY’s walking past him, straight in Mark’s direction. “Follow me.” Jaehyun tilts his head in the direction of the same way he had come from, and then follows it.

Mark feels himself freeze for a moment. TY’s standing right in front of him, and Mark raises his eyes higher so he can look at his face. TY raises an eyebrow expectantly at Mark, then, crossing his arms in front of him. “Aren’t you going?”

Mark’s on his feet in the following second, and when he feels his cheeks burning, he ducks his head to hide it.

It's stressing him out. He's completely out of his element here, and out of all the things that could and should be bothered him intensely, he recognizes that the thing that bothers him the most is his lack of control - which leads to him often not knowing how to react in this new and different environment.

It's annoying as fuck.

Jaehyun doesn't lead him into his office; in fact, Mark finds him waiting by the end of the hallway, leaning on his side against the wall. “TY has been keeping me up to date on your work.”

“Yeah, I assumed he would.” 

Jaehyun eyes him up and down, much in the scrutinizing way Ten had looked at him moments ago. “And you've been doing your job correctly?”

Mark bites back the snark reply on his tongue. “Yes.”

Jaehyun nods, pleased. “Good. Check your account, see if you're satisfied.” And then he turns to leave. Mark frowns.

“Hey, wait.” Jaehyun turns back, clearly annoyed. Mark ignores it. “So you just brought me here to tell me this? You could’ve had TY text me or something. Could've called.”

Jaehyun smirks as though Mark just said something _very_ amusing to him. “Well, yes. But wouldn't it also be very useful to everyone else if they all know your face? It'll make it easier for them to hunt you down and kill you in case you fuck up.” If Mark had to describe Jaehyun’s smile in this exact moment, he'd call it a 'shit-eating grin’.

Everything about Jaehyun makes Mark think that if they were in a different situation, a different scenario, they could be great friends. They have many similarities, and, truth be told, the psychological pressure is genius: if you're mentally weak, you'll break soon; and if you're mentally strong, you'll only get stronger. Mark can see reasoning and logic behind that, and he can only wonder how mentally weak the last hacker must have been.

But as it is not different, Mark can't help but feel something similar to dislike for the other man - his mouth tastes bitter enough that he wonders if he's bitten on the inside of his lip to the point of making himself bleed. Mark knows he doesn't have to be there; Mark knows Jaehyun's probably got his picture up and ready for he he decides to send his dogs after Mark.

Mark watches Jaehyun turn his back on him and walk away. There are two guards, a few meters on his right, watching him, and even if Mark wanted to do something, he couldn't. So he turns on his heel and walks in the opposite direction, back to where he had just come from.

Mark sits by himself in the first lonely corner he finds for the rest of the night. A couple of hours later, once TY takes pity on him, he tells Mark he can leave and offers him a ride. Honestly, Mark has a million spiteful answers on his tongue, feeling angrier than he had a nearly three weeks ago, and the idea that he has to be _allowed_ to do anything doesn't help his thoughts at all; but he's tired, and he's angry enough, and TY doesn't say anything else, so Mark just sucks it up, nods and follows him. Thanks him when he's dropped off, and walks straight into his building and then apartment, and falls asleep as soon as he hits his bed. 

Along the following weeks, Mark’s surprised by something he could never see it coming, not even if he'd been told beforehand: he gets to know TY.

It happens on their check-ups, and it starts on the same week as 'The Jaehyun Incident’, as Mark had called it when he told the story to Donghyuck. Much like their first check-up, TY had told him to sit around for another beer after he finished his report; but unlike the last time, this time they hadn't sat in uncomfortable silence, and they didn't leave after the first beer.

When asked later, Mark won't be able to tell how their conversation started, how it got going - he barely remembers it. But what he does remember, after his third beer and hearing TY tell him a story of how he got his first pocket knife, doing an impression of the man he'd stolen It from, is realizing how funny TY is, and also how much more attractive he looks when he's loosened up.

And Mark remembers realizing, then, that TY is lonely.

His first thought had been ' _how can i turn this around in my favor, how can i use this so i can escape_ ’. It leaves his mind on the next second, when he feels something inside him tell him that's the wrong reaction.

His second thought is ' _i am, too_ ’.

As he ordered another beer for himself and for TY, Mark had chuckled. Takes one to know one.

It becomes sort of an unspoken rule for them to stay for hours after their assigned check-up time. On the following weeks, Mark finds himself looking forward to those Friday afternoons, to talking to TY and trading stories that none expected the other to have.

“You've already lasted more than our last hacker, you know.” TY says on the fourth week. This time they've decided to add a meal to their drinking, which can be done easily since they had met only an hour ago, and dinner started being served at 6pm. Mark, previously focusing on forking his pasta, looks up when he hears TY’s words. “Congratulations.”

Mark snorts, and watches one of the corners of TY’s smile tug upwards. “Thanks, I guess. Do I win anything?” He asks, sarcastically before looking at his pasta, going back to eating it.

“Perhaps.” TY replies, but doesn't elaborate. Mark only throws him a curious look, but TY’s face doesn't tell anything, so he supposes his mouth won't, either.

It's during the following week that Mark gets the chance to truly do his job.

Mark usually lets programs set up to do most of his job for him, running on the laptop and searching for any worthy information; but every three days, Mark checks on it himself, because even if he trusts the computer, the human brain has yet to be defeated in certain areas - and this is one of them.

He doesn’t stumble on the information, but because he didn’t expect it at all, it kind of feels like it. There’s a file that keeps popping up, with about a dozen of the keywords Mark had set up to search, and he opens it.

It’s a police plan for a bust.

Instantly, Mark’s heart starts to beat faster than before, adrenaline kicking and running through his veins. First he reads the file over, specifically looking for details: what’s the cargo going to be busted, on which day, at what time. Once he gathers those, he freezes: the bust is tomorrow morning.

It’s 11pm.

He reads through the file again. The cargo is, the police assumes, two containers of guns and overall war weapons that NCT127 will be sending to a buyer in the USA. According to the info the police has, the cargo will be sent to the shipping deck at 6am and will be shipped at 9am. They’ll be opting for a clean bust instead of a possible shootout, by only going in later and avoiding meeting NCT127 members.

Mark snorts. That seems cowardly of them.

And then he catches himself in his own problems. Because now he has the opportunity to let NCT127 sink, or to at least hit them and make them weak. Mark will be able to go back to his normal life, where he doesn’t work for a gang _against his will_ , where he’s a _good person_ , where he doesn’t have to live with the constant reminder that his life’s in someone else’s hands.

But something about doing that doesn’t sit right with him. He doesn’t have long to make a choice, but he doesn’t have a short amount of time either. He feels torn, though, and he knows that even if he has the time to make a decision, he has to do it now.

Choosing to let the bust happen feels wrong, and choosing to help NCT127 and avoid the bust should feel wrong, but it doesn’t. Mark clenches his jaw, leaning forward and letting his elbows rest on his knees. He laces his fingers together, and thinks, and _thinks_.

He reaches for his phone to text TY. Mark refuses to think that he’s doing it for TY.

_to TY at 11:13pm_

_is there a shipment tomorrow??_

_answer this fast it’s important_

Instead of that, he tells himself he’s doing this because if the bust happens, Jaehyun will instantly have him killed, fast enough that the police or anyone else won’t get to save him. It’s not the whole truth, but it’ll have to do for him.

_from TY at 11:15pm_

_yes, why?_

_to TY at 11:16pm_

_that can’t happen_

_to TY at 11:17pm_

_come pick me up we need to talk_

TY is there in less than half an hour, and had Mark not had the last check-ups in which TY had arrived in time, he’d probably make a point about how TY managed to get to places in time when he wanted. But now, not even the moment is appropriate.

Mark barely looks at TY before hopping in, laptop closed and in hand. He doesn’t bother with a charger: he knows there are plenty at the base. He lets the laptop rest on his lap and lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

“What’s going on?” It’s only then that Mark lets himself look at TY, and he takes the chance to take a thorough look, considering the other man seems to be focusing his eyes on the dark road ahead.

TY is wearing what Mark assumes is his pajamas: sweatpants and a soft-looking t-shirt. His hair is messy, which implies he must have been either in bed ready to sleep or doing something else, but nothing in TY seems to imply he was having that particular kind of fun, so Mark settles for imagining TY watching TV in bed while waiting for sleep to take over him.

He looks soft, Mark thinks. It’s a look that suits him.

“Nearly an hour ago, I caught a file in one of the police’s computers. That file was a plan for a bust that’s scheduled to happen tomorrow, sometime between 6 and 9am.” Mark does his best to sum it up clearly and simply, to be direct. He’d usually be a lot more thorough, but the situation asks for objectivity. “We need to talk to Jaehyun to keep him from sending out the shipment tomorrow.”

TY stays silent for a few moments, and Mark turns his head to look at the opposite direction, staring outside the window. His mind is all over the place right now, but the most important thing is to get Jaehyun to postpone the shipment on a couple of days, at the very least. Mark hears TY sigh. “That one might be harder than fighting a cop. This is a pretty important business deal; he won’t be happy to know this.’

“Better to lose an important deal than lose a cargo _and_ that important deal.” Mark shrugs, and then quickly adds, “Or, at least, that’s how I think.”

“Yeah.”

The rest of the drive is fast and it’s helpful that it’s night on a weekday. TY had probably contacted Jaehyun before getting to Mark’s, because there’s a car parked outside and Jaehyun is waiting inside his office, wearing casual clothes. He looks pissed. “This better be important.”

Mark catches from the corner of his eye the moment TY opens his mouth, a teasing glint in his eye, like he was about to tease Jaehyun but then thought better. _Smart_. Mark thinks. _Not good to joke around with the boss, or second boss, anyway._

But Mark knows that they don’t have too much time. He sits down on the same seat he’d sat weeks before and, with the authority he didn’t have but he’s making up for himself now, he opens the laptop on top of Jaehyun’s desk. TY sits on the chair next to him and Mark can feel his curious eyes as Mark unlocks the laptop and opens the file he’d found.

“Here it is.”

Jaehyun walks around the table and comes to stand behind the two, leaning down so he can take a closer look on the screen. “They’re planning a bust. I have no clue how they got wind that there’ll be cargo being shipped out tomorrow, but they’ve put together a plan and they’re ready to execute it.”

Jaehyun doesn’t seem to have paid attention to his words much, eyes focused on reading every line of the file, and when he stands up, he looks both distraught and deeply displeased. “Are you sure this is legit?”

“I am.” Mark confirms. “While TY was coming to pick me up, I accessed the police’s special squad’s schedule and they’ve got their whole morning packed.”

Nodding, Jaehyun huffs. Anger surrounds him, and he looks about two seconds away from punching a wall. He turns around and back to his seat, but he doesn’t sit down; instead, he starts pacing, seemingly deep in thought.

“Fucking cops.” He mutters under his breath, hands clasped together behind his back before he uses one to push the hair out of his face. And then he turns abruptly to Mark. “And you! If you're wrong and we lose money because of your mistake…”

He lets the rest of his sentence hang in the air and Mark knows he should be feeling terrified at the threat, and he is, a little, but he feels kind of over it. He did his job - he’s not dying for doing his job. This thought has him replying to Jaehyun. “I’m not wrong.”

Jaehyun eyes him darkly. “You better not be.” And then he turns around, hands back to being clasped behind him. “You’re not leaving this building until all of this is over.”

Mark, who had until then managed to let go of a lot of the tension he’d gotten over the situation, feels it all settle within him again. He closes his eyes, as if to center himself, and then he takes a deep breath in and lets it out before opening his eyes once again.

He knows a tone of dismissal when he hears one, though, so he stands up, closes his laptop and leaves the room without another word, laptop tucked under his arm. TY follows him, surprisingly, and when Mark starts walking the same way he’d come, planning on going to that lounging room he’d seen the other time he’d been in the base, TY stops him with a hand on the small of his back.

“Hey.” Mark halts, and turns to face TY. He looks tired. “There’s a few rooms on that end of the corridor; some of those have closed doors, but there’s always two or three that are unlocked. You can choose whichever to sleep in.”

There’s something relatively soft in the way TY is treating Mark. Mark had come to expect TY regard him coldly and distant when they’re working, especially when they’re at the base, and he still expects that, so he’s fairly surprised. They’ve gotten close over the weeks, and he might even joke with TY that they can call each other ‘friend’ now, but somehow he didn’t expect their newfound camaraderie to exist outside of random restaurant or bars in the center of town.

“Um. Thanks.” Mark replies, rather eloquently. He can feel now how the stress and the overall tiredness of the day is hitting him, adrenaline having long since left his body, leaving only drowsiness in its place. He attempts a smile, a small one, at TY, and it seems that it works, because there it is, the corner of TY’s lips curling upwards, too.

TY doesn’t see him to the room, and they part ways right there, Mark going in the direction TY had pointed the rooms were, and TY walking back into Jaehyun’s office, closing the door behind him. Mark doesn’t pay it much mind, because why would he? And he continues on his way.

The first three doors are locked, and the fourth, too, but the fifth opens easily and it’s empty.

The room isn’t anything special, but it has a cozy-looking king-sized bed and air-conditioning, and, for the moment, that’s all that matters to Mark. On the inside of the door, right in the lock, there’s a key. Mark is pretty inexperienced to this whole gang thing, but he knows any amount protection is indispensable, and he locks the door. He settles the laptop and his phone on a small table near the bed, and he falls face first into the mattress.

He just lays there for a few moments, calming down his breathing that he hadn’t even noticed had been altered. Once he settles down, Mark’s sure that it’ll take him forever to fall asleep, all things considered; but a couple of minutes later he’s falling into easily into slumber.

-

He wakes up with firm knocks on the door.

Mark sits up on the bed as fast as an arrow, and his head spins as consequence. “Mark!” It’s TY’s voice, which instantly makes him relax for reasons unknown. Mark yawns and tries to brush the sleep off his eyes with the back of his hands. Then, he pushes himself off the bed, walking first to the table and reaching for his phone. 6:14pm.

It’s too damn early to be up.

“Mark, I’m close to kicking this door down.” TY doesn’t yell, but his voice is powerful and he sounds well pissed off. Mark wonders how long he’s been calling trying to wake Mark up.

“I’m up!” He yells back before yawning once more. He drags himself to the door, feeling the consequences of falling asleep in jeans. Once he unlocks the door, he opens it and finds TY looking like he didn’t get much sleep through the whole night. Mark can’t feel sorry for him, though; not when he, himself, feels like complete garbage - a sum of not sleeping enough and sleeping in an unknown place, he supposes.

“For a moment there, I thought you were dead.” TY raises an eyebrow, and eyes him up and down. Mark runs a hand through his hair, trying to make it less terrible than it probably looks.

Mark shrugs and doesn’t offer TY anything else. “I’m gonna wash my face.”

TY doesn’t say anything either, and instead follows Mark inside, closing the door behind him for privacy. When he gets to the bathroom, the door is already closed.

“We’ve got a few of our boys to go to the port to keep an eye out.” TY’s voice is muffled through the door, but Mark can hear him clearly. After he pees, he washes his hands and throws some water on his face. “We’re still sending the containers, but with a different type of cargo.”

Opening the door, Mark looks at TY before turning back to the mirror above the sink and doing his best to turn the mess that is his hair into something relatively respectable. “We want to see what will happen.” TY explains unnecessarily.

“Meaning, you wanna see if I’m right.” Mark says, and when he sees TY nod from the corner of his eye, Mark shrugs.

“We’re going down to the lounging room. Jaehyun had everyone rearrange the seats especially for you.” TY continues, and smirks at the end of the sentence. “You’re gonna love it. Get your laptop.”

He turns to leave and Mark, done, follows, doing as told and grabbing both his phone and laptop, tucking the first one into the back pocket of his jeans and the second under his arm, like he’d done on the previous night. “Can’t wait.” He mutters under his breath, and follows TY through the slowly becoming familiar corridors.

When they get to the lounging room, Mark can’t hold back his snort.

All the seats are occupied and arranged in a circle - all but one. In the very center of the circle, there’s a chair and a desktop, with a laptop charger on it, clearly for him. Jaehyun sits on the chair directly in front of Mark’s, and Mark finds that Jaehyun can pull off the intimidating look even when sleep-deprived - much like TY, Mark notices when he takes a look at him before walking to his assigned seat.

“About time, Sleeping Beauty.” Mark hears from a voice he’s never heard before, and decides to ignore it. Everyone there seems to be aware of the situation, eyes resting on him with heavy scrutiny, and Mark can only be thankful that not even one fourth of the whole group is in the room, although it’s packed. And they all look very well armed. Mark resists the urge to roll his eyes.

Mark puts the laptop on the desktop and opens it before sitting down. He connects the charger to it and then, without paying attention to the comments that followed the other ones, starts doing his job.

He accesses the port’s cameras, and also the police’s, just because he can and because he wants to show off.

It’s nearly 7pm and the police’s camera doesn’t show much, so he lets it open on one corner of the screen. He focuses on the ones on the port, then. The cargo has already arrived there, and while zapping through the cameras, he spots some people he suspects are those TY talked about.

Around him, people start chatting between themselves, but Mark barely notices it. He chooses the four best cameras to keep up with, strategically speaking, and other four that could come to be important and he could switch to every once in a while.

There’s nothing else Mark can do where he is, and no one he could possibly openly chat with, so he invests his whole attention on his job.

His focus is broken when someone comes from behind him and flicks his ear before sitting on the very edge of the desk. “Hey.”

Mark looks up to find Ten, all easy smiles and bright eyes, looking down at him from where he sits, and Mark can’t help but wonder who possibly looks this good and joyful being up at nearly 7am. “Hey.”

“So! Your very life is depending on you being right about the police’s attempt to bust one of our cargos - how do you feel about that?” Ten asks, clearly imitating a sensationalist journalist from those TV shows in low-level channels that no one watches seriously. Mark can’t help but chuckle.

“I’d definitely be worried if I had reason to be.” Mark lets his head fall back as he slides down the chair so he can rest his head on the highest part of it and look at Ten for long without hurting his neck.

Ten nods, eyebrows raising comically in exaggerated surprise. “A confident man, then! Is that how you would describe yourself? That’s a good quality for a person to have.”

“I’m confident in my abilities.” Mark half-shrugs, looking at the screen for a few moments, before turning to look at Ten again. “Are you a confident person?” He asks mostly out of boredom and a bit of politeness, but Mark can’t help but be curious about Ten as well. He’s been the only one to do more than throw a glance at him or not threaten him.

Ten drops the character he’d been playing and seems to put actual thought into what he’d been asked. “I believe so. I’m very confident in myself and in my abilities, as diversified as they are.” There’s a bit of a flirty smile playing on his lips, and Mark can feel a similar one starting to appear on his own.

When he turns his head to look at the screen once more, Mark sees TY make his way to where Jaehyun is sitting. Over the laptop, Mark can see TY bend a bit to say something in Jaehyun’s ear, throwing a few glances at Mark, and Mark feels a bit uneasy. He’d nearly forgotten TY was in the room; but, then again, he had completely forgotten that there were people in the room with him until Ten had spoken to him, so that wasn’t unusual. But there was something in the way TY was looking at him and then at Ten back and forth. TY doesn’t look angry at all, but there is something in his eyes - something akin to jealousy.

There’s a small blush that takes Mark’s cheeks when the thought of TY feeling anything beyond friendship for him crosses his mind, and Mark drops his head and shakes it once he sees Jaehyun also look at him. He raises his head to meet Ten’s eyes, which seem somehow knowing. “What kind of diverse abilities do you have, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Ten’s opening his mouth to reply when Jaehyun suddenly stands up, chair screeching against the floor, as he stares down at his phone with barely contained irritation.

“Jaemin says there isn’t a single sign of the cops in the port.” Walking with a certain intent to Mark, Jaehyun stands next to his chair, towering over him. Mark raises his eyes to look at him, craning his neck to make it easier, and offers Jaehyun his most unfazed expression.

“The police is very likely only making their move a little later. They’re priority is the cargo and they’re opting for a clean bust with no shootout, considering they’re not really interested in losing officers by either death or recovery leave.” Mark replies, unperturbed. He notices the sudden quietness in the room - silent enough that he can hear his voice echo slightly. He continues, “So I think it’s a waste of time to be worrying over it right now.”

Here’s the thing: Mark is confident to a fault on his skills. It might be his downfall one day, but he checked and double-checked and triple-confirmed on this information, so there’s no way it could possibly be wrong. He’s one hundred percent sure that the attempt on a bust will happen, and he has all the information to back him up.

Jaehyun, however, clearly does not see it like that. “You _motherfucker-_ ” He cuts himself off at the same time as Mark furrows his eyebrows, confused. Taking a deep breath, Jaehyun stares right into Mark’s eyes and says, in a very composed tone, “You’re not the only hacker in town, much less in the country.”

For a second or so, Mark considers replying back something along the lines of, _'And yet, I’m the one who’s here right now’,_ but he stops himself before he does.

What he’s gathered from the occasions in which he got to have direct contact with Jaehyun is that Jaehyun likes to have control. The reason why he understood that so easily with so little contact was that, much like he’d noticed a while ago, Jaehyun and Mark are very similar, and they share this particular trait, too - unlike Mark, however, Jaehyun actually has control.

The idea of challenging Jaehyun’s power and grip, both on himself and on his business, as well as disrespecting him by replying in that way wouldn’t be smart at all - not even in private, much less like this, in public.

So instead of replying to it, Mark simply nods and turns his head back at the screen.

Jaehyun huffs loudly beside him, and then makes his way back to the chair, where TY stands next to. The chatter around them picks back up and so does Mark’s conversation with Ten, who seems as unbothered by their boss’s behavior as Mark had been, perhaps even more so. 

Ten is a character that Mark considers the most peculiar in this whole situation, because he looks hardly threatening, but once he starts to speak about his good relationships with shooting knives, he can kind of see it. Ten is funny, too, as much as he is flirty, and Mark finds it easy to talk to him at the same time as he pays attention to the cameras.

Once the clock hits 8:30am, the tension in the room is thick. Ten and Mark continue to chat between themselves, but the rest of the room speaks a lot less, and later Mark would not admit to anyone but himself, but he feels anxiety building in the bottom of his stomach.

It’s pointless, though. At around 8:41am, Mark spots a squad of police officers approaching NCT127’s containers, and Mark feels as though his heart is beating out of his chest.

“Jaemin says that-” Jaehyun starts from where he’s sitting, his voice standing out and shutting up all remaining people still talking then, but Mark cuts him off, too exhilarated to care.

“-the police are going in.” He completed, pushing his chair back as he stands up before bending over slightly to look better at the screen. Pushing it back, he straightens up and Ten comes to join him at the same time as Jaehyun and TY do the same. Mark can barely hold back his smile, and he doesn't try to. He’s relieved, more than anything, but deep inside he also feels pride and joy at showing what he can do - at being useful, and showing that even if he didn’t get there out of his own free will, he’s still making the best out of it.

Mark nearly thinks he’s hallucinating when he thinks he sees Jaehyun smiling from the corner of his eye, and he turns his head to see it properly; and if he weren’t seeing it with his own two eyes, he would never believe it. There Jaehyun is, smiling broadly and widely and looking actually genuine while doing it, eyes stuck to the screen. Mark doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone look that happy with a police bust.

And then Mark’s eyes find TY’s, and he feels much like his heart’s stops. He’s seen TY smile plenty of times during their conversations, as well as he’s seen him laugh, but TY looks so deeply happy and unguarded about it now- Maybe Mark is biased and knows nothing of art, but, reaching peak cheesiness, Mark thinks TY’s smile should be captured in a picture or a painting and hung up on the wall of the Louvre, or whatever other famous art museum that exists.

TY comes from where he was standing next to Jaehyun and stops slightly behind Mark. “So you were right, huh?”

Mark turns just enough that he can see TY’s face clearly, see his beautiful smile from up close, enough that he can offer TY his own happy and, he admits, cocky smile. “I told you so.”

“That, you did.” TY nods, agreeing, and he rests his hand on Mark’s shoulder for a second before it’s slipping away and he’s turning to speak to Jaehyun.

Beside him, Ten claps Mark on the arm, congratulating him with a wide smile himself, one that Mark hadn’t seen until now. “Damn, I really thought you were dying this time!”

Mark lets himself chuckle loudly at that, at the absurdity of those words, knowing that Ten _probably_ doesn't really mean it, and finds himself nodding along. He’s aware of how euphoric he feels, and he knows it’s due to the thrill of nearly not making it, of his death sentence nearly signed and stamped, but that’s something that he decides not to acknowledge now. Instead, he focuses on the here and now, and on celebrating the fact that he’s not about to be murdered and thrown in a sewer, and also how nice TY’s smile is.

Two hours later finds TY driving Mark back to his place. Their energies have diminished significantly, the tension taking its toll on their already exhausted minds and bodies to an extent. The drive goes silent for most of it, until Mark thinks out loud. “I ought to get a car, right? That way you won’t have to keep driving me on the rare occasions I go to the base.”

TY doesn’t reply. In any other day and situation, Mark would probably let it go, but the early events probably affect his behavior, because he continues. “Also, isn’t it risky? Isn’t the point of the once a week meetup the fact that we shouldn’t be seen together much or something like that?”

This time when TY doesn’t reply, Mark just lets it go. They’re just turning around the corner of his street, anyway; TY looks like he’d gotten less sleep and rest than Mark, and Mark feels absolutely drained, so he can only imagine how tired TY is.

When they reach Mark’s apartment, Mark doesn’t take long before he’s hopping off the car, laptop tucked under his arm like usual. “See you.” He nods goodbye to TY and turns to make his way home.

It’s then that he hears the sound of a door closing. “Wait.” TY asks, and Mark barely has any time to brace himself before TY’s grabbing his hip with one hand and the back of his neck with the other and pressing their lips together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for ending it where i did but honestly the chapter was already so huge i had toooo *glues "i tried" star to my forehead*


	4. Chapter 4

TY kisses in that all-consuming way you only hear about in fiction. There's something so characteristic of him in the way he wraps his whole self around Mark, like he wants Mark completely for himself, and Mark can't help it: he melts into it.

He gives as good as he gets, buries his hands into TY’s silky dark hair, lets himself be pushed against the side of the car, TY’s body pressed flush against his. Mark doesn't think he's ever been kissed like this, like TY’s making a claim on him yet there's no one watching, like TY feels both desperate and entitled to this at the same time. Mark can't deny him anything, now.

Mark doesn't know how long passes since this started, but when he notices TY’s hard-on against his hip, he pulls their faces away just enough so he can speak. “Come inside with me.” 

There’s a full second in which TY just looks at him, eyes so full of desire that Mark can’t help but feel a shiver run down his spine, feels his dick hardening inside his jeans and he presses himself closer to TY, clawing at TY’s shoulders. Mark’s gaze drops to TY’s bitten-red lips, and TY nods. Twice.

Mark grabs TY’s hand and they’re moving into his building, up the stairs, nearly breaking his door down trying to open it and then again when TY pushes him back against it, mouthing at Mark’s neck. Tilting his head back, Mark bares his neck and his eyelids start fluttering when TY bites down on it, too soft to hurt, but hard enough that it reminds Mark that they should move, because as much as he wants TY, he’s tired and he’d much rather do this on a bed.

“Come on, my room.” Mark manages to say, even when TY’s slipping a knee between his thighs. “I’ve got a bed, you know?”

TY breathes out a laugh and Mark feels his warm breath hit the drying wetness on his neck before he pulls away, guiding them deeper into Mark’s apartment and into Mark’s bedroom as though he’s the one who owns the place, instead of Mark. The thought makes Mark grin to himself.

They barely take their clothes off before TY’s backing him up against the bed, body covering all of Mark as he braces himself over the younger one. He kisses Mark deeply, slow, in a strong contrast to the way he grinds his dick against Mark’s, ripping a moan out of Mark’s pink lips.

Despite how horny they are, Mark is well aware that this isn’t gonna last long. TY reaches down between their bodies to reach for Mark’s dick and strokes it twice, just to have Mark arching his back, pressing up against him.

“So responsive.” TY praises against Mark’s lips, and they’re too close for Mark to tell whether TY’s smirking or just grinning. In response, Mark simply wraps one of his legs around TY, calf against TY’s thigh and a hand reaching down to mimic TY’s actions.

If he were to be asked at the moment, Mark wouldn’t be able to tell whether it’s the want that’s been building since that day, since that arguably fateful day, or if it’s just plain desperation driven by the simple joy of what happened earlier. Truth is, right now, it doesn’t matter. Mark feels on top of the world, can’t stop kissing TY, can’t stop how tight he holds him with his free arm. Any other time he’d be in disbelief that he has TY like this, holding moans and breathing unsteady into his mouth; at this point, however, Mark can only hold tighter around TY, tight enough that were it not for the laws of physics, they’d have become one.

It’s only moments later that they’re get to just moving against each other, breathing into each other’s mouths, their hips moving erratically in search for release. Mark comes with a loud moan, hands clinging to TY’s back as a drowning man fights the relentless sea and seeks for air; TY, on the other hand, comes nearly quietly, with a mix of a sigh and a moan followed by Mark’s name breathed out in his ear.

TY doesn’t stay for long to get off of Mark, well aware of his weight, even if Mark wouldn’t really complain about it. He lays down next to Mark, and he makes no attempt to separate their hands, although none of the two could tell when they even intertwined in the first place.

Mark doesn’t know how long they lay together, just catching their breaths, but it’s long enough that Mark has time to fully come to his senses and start overthinking what has just happened and what will happen next. As though he can read Mark’s mind, though, TY turns his head to look at him, one of his hands coming to touch Mark’s hip where it’s not dirty from the mess they made.

“Are you alright?” There’s a softness to the way TY speaks to him, then; maybe it has something to do with TY being tired, or maybe it’s just how he is after having an orgasm, but he both speaks and looks at Mark with what seems genuine worry and care, and Mark doesn’t know if wherever they stand now allows him to go for a kiss again, but he kind of wants to.

Mark nods. “I’m okay. You?”

“Yeah.” TY sits up on the bed, running a hand through his tousled hair. Some seconds of silence pass before he speaks again. “I can’t stay - I have to go.”

TY turns his head to look at Mark, who tries to keep an expression akin to impassive or, at the very least, unbothered. “Okay.” He replies, and he doesn’t know what to do next, so he closes his eyes before yawning. Exhaustion is starting to truly catch up to him.

Mark feels TY move, then, standing up. There’s noise of clothes being put on, and even if he wants TY to stay, he won’t say anything. It’s not his place; and, besides, this was clearly something strictly physical. If he stayed, it’d most likely feel like it meant something more than that, and TY probably doesn’t want that.

And then moments of silence pass. Mark’s sure that TY has already left, but then again, Mark is already drifting off. It’s on the last bit of consciousness that Mark acknowledges the dip on the bed right beside him. He feels warm hands cupping his cheeks carefully, as though he’s something fragile, and then soft lips touch his. Those lips leave his for a moment before they’re back, now placing a kiss on Mark’s forehead.

A surge of warmth runs through Mark’s whole body, and he feels the tension that he hadn’t even notice that had settled within his bones leave him.

“See you soon.” TY says in a low, gentle tone as though not to awake Mark, and then Mark feels TY leave the bed. He hears TY’s steps through the apartment, and hears the door click closed behind him, and he falls asleep feeling relaxed in a way he hasn’t been in quite a while.

-

There isn’t really a significative change in Mark’s routine after the shipment situation and after having sex with TY, there really isn’t - except that on the next time he has to go to the base, about 90% of the people he passes by on his way to Jaehyun actually acknowledge him, especially Ten, who smiles and waves even though he’s far, and the two girls who seem to always be sharpening their knives give him smiles, and he’s only slightly terrorized.

Except that on the following day, TY comes to his apartment and gives him the fucking of his life, this time with both of them very much awake and very rested. Except that TY continues to keep him close, and acts the exact same way as they did on their check-ups, with the only difference being the kisses, and the nights TY comes and still doesn’t stay, and the casual texting every once in a while.

Truth is Mark doesn’t quite know how he feels with the sudden change - all he truly knows is that he’s happy, and that every time he comes home to TY watching TV in his living room he thinks that he might not hate the fact that he’s in a gang, that he didn’t actually have the chance to even choose to be in one, because without that he’d never have met TY.

It’s a sunday night, and TY is watching MasterChef with a very focused sort of attention. Mark closes the door behind himself and sits down on the sofa next to TY, throwing his legs over TY’s lap. “Are you planning on learning how to fend for yourself?”

TY turns to face him, then, a hand curling around one of Mark’s calves, and he leans in to press a kiss to Mark’s lips. “Who says I don’t know how?” He replies, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

Mark raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Weren’t you the one who said you could barely do instant ramen by yourself until you were like, sixteen?”

“Yes, but that was forever ago.” TY says, lips curling in something similar to a pout, and Mark can’t help but smile at how bummed TY looks. “Besides, I’ve taken an interest in it lately. You should let me cook for you some time.”

There it is, the funny feeling in Mark’s stomach again - that fluttering feeling, matching the skip of a beat that his heart does when TY does some things. He finds himself nodding before he’s actually even given it much thought. “As long as you don’t poison me, I guess I can deal with whatever you throw my way.”

TY rolls his eyes, small pout turning into a smile. “I’m not gonna poison you, you idiot.” And then he leans in to give Mark another kiss, this time on the very tip of Mark’s nose.

Mark feels happy.

-

Weeks pass by without much going on, but Mark can’t let the whole bust event quite behind him. The truth is that the police should have never had even the slightest idea of NCT127’s overall activity, much less of when a shipment would be sent to a buyer.

Mark rules out every option possible with the help of TY. There’s no way it could have been someone from the business section, because deals were mostly done by Jaehyun and another _very trustworthy -_ he's not allowed to question that - member of the organization; and it couldn’t have been the other side of this business deal, because NCT127 are the number one providers to them, and their deal had been better than any other by miles, as they had made sure of.

Mark rules out every option possible, except the one he disliked the most: the idea of a mole within NCT127.

The possibility of the existence of a mole is terrible in many levels. For one, if there is a mole, it’s very likely that they told the police of the new hacker and who it was, which means that Mark can possibly have been exposed; secondly, there is a high likeliness that the mole is still in the organization, with enough access to information to leak crucial information of NCT127’s schedule; and thirdly… Well, Mark doesn’t have a third reason, but the first two are compelling enough.

Despite his serious worries, he doesn’t share any of his suspicions to TY. It’s not even because he doesn’t trust him - considering everything, TY is the person Mark’s more likely to trust out of anyone else in NCT127 - but he knows that TY has some level of influence within the organization, and he knows pretty much anyone. If TY changes the way he behaves among the others, or if he shares Mark’s suspicions with anyone else, it’d make even harder to find out who it is, especially if Mark has no luck in finding any names while doing what’s his actual job.

There’s also the main issue that has been bothering Mark ever since the beginning. The grey area he’s been living in for the past couple of years - it seems to be fading, and he feels like he’s further and further slipping to the darker side of it.

For the past couple of years, being good was something he could still pretend to do, even if he was working illegally just for money; but now, he’s not quite sure he wants to be a good person. He struggles. He can’t decide.

Some nights he still wakes up in a cold sweat, feeling like saying ‘fuck it all’ and telling it all to the police; and then he remembers what he has, who he has, the feelings he holds in his chest and the happiness that has been surrounding him for the past months, and he can’t bring himself to go through with it.

It still burns in the back of his mind, though.

Mark decides to investigate, anyhow. Which proves to be one of the hardest tasks he’s been given, by someone else or himself. He’s sure that a lot of information is being kept on paper by the police, possibly out of fear of having their information leaked, especially after the whole bust failure situation, but Mark still searches.

“Mark?” Mark hears TY’s voice in the living room, where he seems to have just walked into. After TY’s visits started to get frequent, Mark had decided that giving him a key was better than having him break in every time, and TY, in some sort of thanks, had made sure his apartment was absolutely impossible to break in.

The perks of having an expert in breaking in for a boyfriend.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Mark replies back from his room, where he’s been using the laptop. He hears TY’s footsteps coming closer and closer, until TY’s walking into his bedroom, coming to stand behind him, hands resting on Mark’s shoulders.

TY bends down to press a kiss to the top of his head. “Work?”

Mark hums back in confirmation, focusing on adding a few more keywords for the sweeping system he’d set up to look for info. TY bends a bit more so he can kiss Mark’s neck, hands sliding down his arms and up again, TY’s lips following the line of Mark’s jaw. Mark’s completely taken. “Come to bed with me, I miss you.”

They saw each other on the day before, which makes it silly that TY would be missing him, except that Mark feels the same way. It seems that the more they spend time together, the more he wants to be in TY’s presence, and if the way TY looks is anything to go by, he feels similarly towards Mark.

So, truly, Mark can’t be blamed when he leaves his work halfway through, not now, and not on the following days, because who, in their right minds, would be able to deny or ignore TY?

-

“Aren’t you curious to know his real name?” Donghyuck asks him, some weeks later, when Mark admits that he still calls TY by the only name he knows - TY.

And the truth is that when he gives it some actual thought, sits down and ponders, Mark realizes that he is, even if just a bit. But until Donghyuck had brought it up, chin on his hand and eyebrows furrowing, Mark had barely even considered the idea of asking TY about his real name.

It’s then that Mark realizes in fullness how deep he is in with TY.

Mark has always worked with information. It’s not something negative, he found along the years - if anything, it only highlights how careful he is with what he does in life and with whom he gets involved. If it had been anyone else, especially in Mark’s current situation, Mark might have already searched the person’s first and last name, found out their whole history and their family’s. So, in truth, the fact that Mark has been living peacefully all this time while knowing the bare minimum about TY is… quite telling.

“A bit.” Mark admits in reply to Donghyuck, looking away and twisting his mouth, deep in thought. There are a few moments of silence and Donghyuck doesn’t break it, waiting for Mark to continue. “I do want to know more about him, but I kind of think that, for now, it’s not important? Like, I know how this sounds like pure bullshit, but give me a break-” Mark laughs at himself, somewhat self-deprecatingly. “-I think I really, really like him.”

“You seem to.” Donghyuck watches him with careful eyes. “You know, I’m not actually sure how I feel exactly about you being in a gang and dating one of its members, but this… This is probably the happiest I’ve seen you be in quite a while, I must admit.”

“Yeah.” Mark nods, a small smile instantly gracing his lips as soon as his thoughts drift fully to TY. “He makes me pretty happy.”

-

Mark isn’t actually expecting it when TY asks him the question, but considering his distracted and slightly serious expression he’s had ever since he arrived at Mark’s apartment, thirty minutes ago. “What do you think about learning how to shoot?”

Taking the chance to think while chews on the only very slightly burnt around the edges lasagna TY had brought with him, Mark considers it. “Like, with a gun? A real one?”

TY rolls his eyes next to him, turning to throw him a look with an amused smile on his lips. “No, Mark, with a bow and arrow.”

“It’s a valid question, you know.” Mark points it out, and chuckles before taking a sip of his glass of juice when TY waves him off, turning back to his own plate of lasagna.

Silence follows as they go back to eating quietly, and Mark gives the question some proper thinking. It’d definitely be useful to know how to shoot, and he’s pretty sure that every kid in the world has had the dream of learning how to shoot like in those action movies he grew up watching. The idea is appealing, and he doesn’t see any downsides to it, and it’s not like he doesn’t have the time to spare.

“You haven’t replied yet.” TY says, resting a caring hand on Mark’s thigh, and Mark tilts his head sideways enough that he can rest his head on TY’s shoulder for just a moment, a small gesture of affection.

“Yeah.” Mark replies, nodding to himself, and taking another sip of his glass. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“Cool. You’re gonna love it.” TY’s smile is mischievous and excited, to say the least, and Mark feels himself smiling because of it. “It’s always fun to learn how to shoot, I think, to both who’s teaching and who’s learning.”

“Can’t wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is just half plot half fluff w a bit of porn  
> honestly the porn wasn't even meant to happen now but i felt like the ~clifffhanger from the last chapter deserved better, sooo  
> better porn will happen later tho uwu  
> shout out to lucía for dealing w me when i'm freaking myself out over the fic


	5. Chapter 5

Shooting lessons start on the next Thursday, when the base is as empty as it can ever possibly get. Mark doesn’t want to be laughed at for being too terrible in the beginning, even if TY complains that that’s a lot of the fun of the first day at a shooting range.

“Please, I’m not about to give Ten free ammo to mock me for weeks on end.” Mark gives TY a look, followed by a _very convincing_ pout, so TY just chuckles and lets it go.

On this particular day, Mark ends up taking a taxi to the base - TY had been there already, and Mark hadn't seen the point in making him pick him up just to drive all the way back. He doesn't text TY when he arrives, but TY had given him simple instructions to find him in the place, so Mark doesn't worry.

Except that Mark ends up getting lost, and he doesn't even know how. He's always been aware of his terrible sense of direction, but even he can't believe it himself when he ends up in a corridor when he was supposed to end up in the open patio behind the building.

_Alright_ , Mark thinks. _Let's try to find a way back, or find someone friendly enough to ask for directions._

Mark walks back a few corridors, knocks on a few doors, most locked, and doesn't run into a single person. He wanted an empty place so much - guess he got it.

He's just really about to throw the towel and call TY to tell him he's gotten lost, and he'll even gladly deal TY’s playful teasing so long as he doesn't have to walk aimlessly around, lost, when he ends up opening a door that's unlocked.

Here's the deal: he really wasn't expecting the door to open. Most of the doors Mark had come across so far were locked, so the probability of him finding an unlocked one was minimum, so he hadn't bothered knocking, sure that he'd just end up wasting his time waiting for someone to reply from inside.

So, when he turns the doorknob and pushes the door open, he's surprised enough, but his surprise only grows after that.

In front of him, resting back against the wall, is Ten, who's got his jeans pooling around his ankles and one of his hands buried in the dark locks of the man who's giving him head.

Mark's jaw drops, and, in the following second, he holds back the desperate need to laugh, completely out of nervousness.

Ten's head lols to the side so he can look at Mark, and his eyebrows raise in apparent surprise. Then, his lips curl in the most smug smile Mark has ever come across in his life, before he lets his bottom lip slide between his teeth so he can bite on it. It's clear to Mark what Ten feels about getting caught in this situation: he doesn't care.

Contrary to Ten, however, whoever's on his knees sucking Ten off doesn't even notice that Mark's watching them - and judging by how enthusiastic he seems, added to his closed eyes, Mark supposes that he's too busy to notice. Still, from his profile, Mark can easily identify who it is: Johnny, one of the guys Mark has seen doing the front door security.

Ten has pretty good taste.

Mark's eyes come back to focus on Ten, whose eyes haven't left him, except now they seem a lot more hooded than before. Thinking about how he's overcome his stay by now, Mark salutes Ten with two fingers, giving him a small smile, and brings the door back with him, paying attention to closing the door carefully so as to not make his previous presence in the room to the unaware person in it.

Laughing to himself, Mark goes back on his way. He takes his phone from the back pocket of his jeans as he walks, trying to find his way back to where he had started.

And really, it's only to be expected that he'd finally manage to find the patio he was meant to find on his way to the shooting range while trying to do the absolute opposite.

Laughing at the ridiculous situation, Mark gives up texting TY, pocketing the phone and crossing the patio, following the previous instructions. After that, it isn't hard finding TY. He just has to follow the gun firing noises.

Mark will consider, later, that there was probably something wrong with him, for not even being scared when he heard a gun going off. Any person, even if they're aware that that's common in a shooting range, would have at the very least have their heart beating faster at it, but Mark just thinks it natural and goes on.

The first thing that Mark thinks once he finds TY is that no one should be this attractive while shooting. It's just illegal.

TY keeps his eyes so extremely focused on the target, and Mark doesn’t need to see it closer to know he’s hitting it with every shot. He empties the gun, and then puts it down, taking off the earmuffs he'd been wearing, black hair in the wind. Only then Mark approaches him, placing a hand on the small of TY’s back.

“Am I gonna be this good when you finish teaching me?”

“If you put in the work, I think so.” The corner of TY’s eyes turn crinkly when he turns to face Mark, a small grin on his lips. “Took you some time, huh? Did you get lost?”

“Mmm.” Mark hums, though neither confirming it or denying. TY, already familiar with Mark's ways of diverting attention and avoiding the subject, only smiles and presses a kiss to his temple. “Are you gonna teach me or not?”

The day’s lesson lasts about two hours, and Mark finally learns what's that feeling characters in action films always mention, that adrenaline that comes with shooting, that excitement. It feels like nothing Mark has ever felt before, like he's got so much power in his hands, and strength, and it feels exhilarating.

His favorite part, however, - to which Donghyuck will probably call him a _thot_ , or something like it - is when TY finally, after showing how a gun works and how it's assembled and disassembled, teaches Mark how to shoot. And it's not because of the whole thing about feeling exhilarated while shooting, but because of how physical TY is while teaching the shooting part.

TY comes to stand behind him, after he hands Mark the gun and tells him to aim, and suddenly it all seems very quiet. He places his hands on Mark's hips, and nudges Mark's legs further apart. He brings his hands higher than, up Mark's sides and finding Mark's shoulders, until they slide down Mark's arms down to the elbows. He raises Mark's elbows higher, bringing his hands back to Mark's elbows again so he can fix his posture.

“Here.” TY says, voice low and rumbling through his chest and into Mark's. “Balance your weight equally with your legs, steady.” Mark does as he's told, although admittedly distracted by TY’s closeness. “Now take a deep breath, and try it.”

Mark inhales, long and deep, and as he lets the air out, he takes the first shot at the target. The recoil is as heavy and hard as he'd been told previously, but it's enough that the next time he'll already be used to it; plus, TY’s presence helps make it easier than it would have been if he were alone.

They probably look like a cliché scene from a movie, but Mark doesn't care. He’ll even say he can actually see the appeal of those scenes, now.

Mark can’t help but tease TY. “You're not using teaching me how to shoot as a way to get into my pants, now, are you?”

“Maybe so.” TY answers against his ear, pressing a kiss to the spot behind Mark's ear right after. “You look very delectable right now - I just might have to eat you up.”

Mark shudders in TY's hold and he can feel TY's satisfied smile against the skin of his neck. And then TY's stepping away from him, grabbing the earmuffs on the table next to them and he's putting them on Mark's head without placing them properly.

“Hold your position, you're perfect. Fire away, okay? I'll watch.” And then TY covers Mark's ears with the earmuffs, before stepping away to watch and doing the same to himself.

“Not so bad, huh?” Mark nudges TY’s side lightly with his elbow, small smile on his lips. They're making their way through the building now, and Mark tries to pay attention so he won't get lost next time.

TY shrugs a bit, though he's smiling too. “Not bad at all. You just need to practice, but you'll be good in no time if you do it regularly. Do you want to?” TY turns his head to look at him for a moment.

There isn't much of a doubt in Mark's mind. “Yeah, absolutely. Would you mind teaching me?”

They've reached the last door by now. Johnny is one of the security guys by the door, and once Mark notices it, he can't help smiling a little at it. He gets no reaction from Johnny, though, which he expected. They greet the two guys by the door and move along without any trouble.

“It’ll be my honor.” TY throws him a wink over his shoulder as they walk to the car, and for the hundredth time since they met on this day, Mark feels his chest get warm because of TY.

On the way back, TY keeps one of his hands intertwined with Mark, as he always does. The drive back is silent, but not in a way that bothers any of the two - it’s rare for silence between them to be awkward, especially considering they’re both people who thoroughly enjoy it, and often lose themselves inside their own minds. Mark turns his head to look at TY, then, and when he notices that TY’s mind is both on the road they’re driving on and somewhere else far from now, he takes the chance to look at TY, really _look_ at him. 

When TY gets lost in thought, there’s a gentleness to his features, similar to how he looks when he’s fallen asleep. TY doesn’t often get lost in thought, Mark knows - only a few times when they’re alone, never among NCT127 members. Among his colleagues, TY only ever looks extremely alert, always sharp and vigilant, stone-faced, cold eyes, the perfect right-hand man. But with Mark, he’s looser, livelier - more relaxed. He smiles easily at Mark nowadays, smiles often; a clear difference from when they first met. Back then, Mark would hardly get three or four smirks out of TY, and maybe a sarcastic laugh, but when they’re lazing at night in, wide-awake at 3am and with no deep interest in sleeping, he smiles against Mark’s cheek, whispering in his ear even though they’re the only ones in the place.

There’s so much Mark doesn’t know about TY, he’s well aware of that. And seeing TY shooting earlier had brought up a thought that Mark hadn’t bothered to entertain in a long while: the thought that TY is dangerous. It was one of the first things Mark had ever thought about the other man, and now that thought is back.

Ever since they got closer, TY has only ever shown Mark a friendly side that Mark definitely didn’t expect to exist, not after the first time they met - Mark would even call it a soft side, so different from the person he thought TY was, such a stark contrast with the man who made Mark think, more than once, that he was within moments of his demise. Thinking back, it feels like that night was eons ago, when it was just a few months before. 

Mark can’t help, as he tightens his grip on TY’s hand for a small moment, if only in some sort of self-reassurance of reality and of their relationship, but think that that sort of danger TY exuded on that first encounter can’t be faked, can’t be a front just to scare people. That sort of danger that Mark felt within TY was bigger than anyone else’s that he met in NCT127, even bigger than Jaehyun’s. TY is definitely capable of terrible things, and Mark can’t deny it. Does he even truly know him? When he throws a look at the hand that holds his with such care, caressing it with his thumb, Mark can’t help but wonder how many times that same hand had pulled a trigger on someone, had punched someone to unconsciousness, had choked someone until their last breath.

Mark can’t help but wonder if there’ll ever come a day in which those hands will be killing him, instead.

The thought of TY’s violent proclivities don’t bother Mark as much as he’d expected them to bother him - as much as a normal person would be bothered; and _that_ scares Mark more than the idea of one day being on the end of TY’s pure fury.

He shakes these thoughts off his head, figuratively and literally, and brings TY’s hand to his lips so he can press a kiss to its back. TY turns his head to look at him, then, for a small, safe moment, his eyes curious but deeply fond, and Mark smiles.

He shouldn’t be thinking of any of this, now. Maybe he’s being naïve by not worrying about TY; maybe he’s choosing to push those thoughts away only because he's scared of how _bad_ he can actually be, that he wouldn’t be bothered by the fact that TY’s most likely killed people before - whatever reason it is, it doesn’t matter.

“You know what we should do?” TY asks, throwing him a bright-eyed look. Mark raises his eyebrows in interest, and tilts his head.

“What?”

“Get some pizza.” Mark blinks, then, and he can’t help but mimic TY’s smile - it’s so bright, like he just had the best idea in the world, and maybe he did. Mark isn’t sure he can tell, anymore, isn’t sure if he can trust himself to be impartial when it comes to TY. 

Those bad thoughts, they don’t belong in a good day such as this. Right now, they don’t matter.

-

Mark orders a pizza before they even get home, and when they do, it doesn’t take long for it to arrive. As TY unboxes the pizza and properly slices it - “‘cause they never do it right”, as he once said - Mark grabs a whole bunch of napkins, ketchup and a pair of cups. “Don’t forget to bring the coke.” He reminds TY as he passes by him in the kitchen, making a beeline to the couch. 

When TY comes he places the pizza on the small living room table in front of them, bottle of coke on his other hand. “I was thinking about trying to do homemade pizzas.” TY says as he drops down next to Mark. The TV is set on some show Mark has no clue what it is about, and neither TY seems to, but it’s only background noise anyway.

“Oh, I know how to make those.” Mark replies, but only slightly aware of TY at the moment. The more he looks at the pizza, the more his hunger grows and he can feel his mouth watering. He truly didn’t know how hungry he was, but the first bite onto a slice has him moaning loud and shameless.

“Moan a bit louder and I might start feeling threatened by the pizza.” TY teases half-heartedly, but Mark can’t even bring himself to care, too focused on ending his food hunger. His TY hunger, for that matter, will have to come fully to the surface a little later.

They eat in silence, not quite interested in what’s on but still staring at the TV, which is not really unusual, but is, at the moment, not helpful. Mark can feel his mind drifting back to where he was in the car, to the point where he breaks the silence and only realizes what he’s said when he feels TY’s eyes on him, and he turns his head to find TY looking both surprised and deep in thought.

“Have you ever killed someone?” is what he’s asked.

“Yes.” Is what TY replies, and there isn’t a bit of shame or regret in his words, in his tone, or even in his eyes. He says it matter-of-factly, and Mark thinks that if he looked deeper, he could probably find some pride in TY’s reply as well. “Why do you ask?”

Mark shakes his head, not quite sure what to think. “Curious.” He avoids TY’s eyes, but he knows that TY didn’t buy it. Yet, TY doesn’t press it and they fall in a moment of silence. It’s thicker than before, but it isn’t tense, not really. Mark thinks the conversation ends there.

But TY doesn’t. “You could kill too, if you wanted to.” Mark’s lips part, mouth opening to argue, but a shake of TY’s head has him stopping instantly. “I asked you once, why, in a world of no consequences, you’re still playing the good side. You never replied. If I asked you again, right now, what would you say?”

There it is, the TY Mark saw when they first met, the TY that has NCT127 members stepping out and making way for him to walk through. TY watches him with steely eyes, and a shiver runs down Mark’s spine at being the sole focus of such a look. He’s not afraid, but he knows that were he any other person, he should be.

“I don’t know.” Mark manages to let out, nearly gasping on his breath.

TY simply nods, as though that was what he expected, and his eyes grow warmer, losing its previous cold appeal.

It’s then that Mark can’t help but wonder whether he’s being manipulated, but only for a split second. The idea of TY manipulating him, blinding him, is ridiculous enough to make him want to let out a laugh that he holds back, not sure if he’d be able to explain it. TY has no reason to manipulate him. He’s never pretended to be anyone he isn’t, and despite the secrecy, and the illegal activities he’s involved in - that _they_ areinvolved in - Mark’s just lucky he gets to see two sides of TY.

He can’t help but wonder, then, if he’s the one doing the manipulation, and finds that he’s in a position to do so. And that, much like he is, TY is also in that position. And when he looks into TY’s eyes, it’s like TY _knows_ that. Mark doesn’t know what’s in his eyes, but in TY’s he finds fondness, and trust, and expectation.

They’ll either have to trust each other fully now, Mark realizes, even though they don’t know that much about each other - because TY doesn’t know Mark all that much, and Mark is aware of that now. TY knows who his family is, who his friends are, TY knows about Mark’s private bank accounts and where he lives, but TY doesn’t know whether Mark will flee at the slightest complication. He doesn’t. It’s something that matters to him, yet he trusts.

It’s like something snaps, then.

Because Mark trusts, too.

He leans in to press his lips against TY’s tenderly, and lets the kiss tell TY just that. That he trusts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly i was planning on posting this chapter like 2 days ago but uni's 100% kicking my ass and i forgot to update?? sigh  
> anyway next chapter will be longer n it's when things will get more intense........... im so excited aaaaaa


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i know i said things would get more intense in this chapter but i decided to make the chapter shorter because 1 the chapter is pretty long and 2 i think it’d make more sense plot-wise like that,, oh well  
> but things ARE getting more intense in the next chapter okay this is like preparation for Tense MomentsTM  
> ah! playful use of the word “daddy" ! not to be taken seriously, unless u want to wink wonk  
> also, one of the lines is taken from doctor who bc im uncreative like that uwu  
> enjoy!

Since the day he found clear confirmation of the existence of a mole within NCT127, Mark doesn’t make a lot of progress on the subject. He admits that it’s due to him not putting that much effort into it, mostly, but it’s also true that he doesn’t really manage to find all that content easily, either.

Days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months. Soon Mark has been with NCT127 for over six months, and when Donghyuck brings it up, Mark can’t help but snort.

“I didn’t think I’d last this long, to be honest.” He says, yawning. He’d stayed up all night doing a background search on a possible long-term buyer NCT127 was looking into associating with, and he hasn’t slept yet. He would, normally, but he doesn’t want to royally fuck up his sleeping schedule now. “At a certain point, I really thought I was toast.”

Donghyuck chuckles, but only half-heartedly. Mark doesn’t blame him - he knows it’s a proper reaction from a proper friend, and he’s lucky that Donghyuck cares so much for him, but it’s been so long since Mark even considered the dangerous place he’s in right now that it nearly gives him whiplash when he sees the concern in Donghyuck’s eyes.

The more Mark spends time with TY, the less Mark finds himself caring about rules, and about all the things that used to make him feel guilty. He doesn’t hack recklessly anymore, not in the way that he used to when he was bolder and stupid, both because he doesn’t really need the money, and because he wants to avoid at all costs any sort of attention being brought to him or his associations. He hacks when he has to, and in completely untraceable ways. In the past month, he found himself learning new ways to bypass updated technologies and that, alone, leaves him with an exhilarating feeling that he can’t shake off, and finds that he doesn’t even have to.

He’s also found, in these few months, that hard and successful work also changes the way people treat you. While his appearances at the NCT127 base don’t increase in frequence at all, the amount of correct information he gives ends up getting Mark an increase of friendly greetings and a decrease of threatening looks thrown his way. Jaehyun takes to only giving him intimidating remarks every once in a while, and the girls who seem to always be sharpening their knives whenever Mark sees them now put their knives down and nod in less-than-threateningly ways. Ten remains just about the same as the usual.

And as for TY, they’ve gotten closer than Mark had even expected. Against what seemed like a strong self-imposed rule, TY starts staying the night. 

-

When it begins, Mark doesn’t even open his mouth to question it, but he can’t help the confused look he gives TY when he wakes up to TY still in his bed at eight a.m. TY is playing a game on his phone, seeming just slightly awake, and pauses it to press a close-mouthed kiss to Mark’s lips.

“Good morning.” He says, beaming. Mark can’t bring himself to question him, or do anything else but smile back, pressing his face into the crook of TY’s neck. His hand slides down the side of TY’s torso, fingertips knowingly tracing the scar he has there for a split second before his open palm is splaying open over it, hand sliding up and down in a slow caress.

There isn’t really anything special to it, besides the fact that TY apparently feels comfortable enough to sleep over, and it shouldn’t be something necessarily big, but apparently it is, because Mark gets the same warm feeling in his chest as he got when TY first kissed him. Truth is, nothing can quite compare to getting to wake up in the morning to the sight of TY’s sleepy eyes, face with sheet marks on it and the laziest smile on his lips.

Mark is sure that there’s very little that can top the amount of happiness he feels now.

TY doesn’t always sleep over, at first, but twice a week becomes four times a week, and then two weeks later, he sleeps more at Mark’s than at his own place - which, when Mark catches himself truly thinking about it, he realizes he hasn’t been at yet. It isn’t really an issue, because Mark knows that more often than not his place is more convenient for both of them, but it _is_ odd. Still, he doesn’t pay much attention to it, and instead focuses, with a gleeful little grin, on the amount of TY’s shirts that he keeps finding in the middle of his laundry.

This all feels awfully domestic. Mark thinks back to his younger self, who used to despise the idea of dating someone and living with them, and can only snicker when he realizes that, now that he has this, he really, really doesn’t want to give it up.

-

“Is this a nerd convention?” Jeno asks as soon as he joins the skype group chat, the last one to do so. “I think I’m in the wrong place, then.”

Donghyuck flips him off, hiding his laugh behind his hand as he does it. “You’re late because you were at that new 90’s themed arcade you’ve been obsessed with for the past week and we’re the nerds?”

Skyping with his friends at least twice a week is some sort of tradition between them, started when Mark had first introduced Hyuck to Jeno and Jisung, back during his first semester. It had been what he managed to work out to lessen both his missing of Donghyuck and Donghyuck’s jealousy at Mark making new close friends. A week later, he found his plan ended up working better than expected: now he didn’t have only two-on-one or one-on-one roasts of him, having his three best friends ganging up on him.

“Yes, of course.” Jeno sniffs, and then his eyes glint with mischief. “What’s worse, that or being excited about going back to class? Huh, Jisung?”

Jisung, who had until now stay quiet, snorts while he rolls his eyes, but his cheeks are tinted with a faint blush. “I like studying things on my area of interest, sue me.”

Donghyuck offers them a lopsided smile. “At least class is getting you somewhere, Jisungie.”

Not even Jeno manages to hold back his laughter, nodding as he agrees with Donghyuck’s assessment. “Of course you’d side with Jisung, Mr. I Cried Because I Got An A- in Coding II.”

Mark leans down on his bed, laptop following so he can stay in the conversation in a more comfortable position. He lets his head rest on his hand, and watches fondly as his three best friends interact.

“You know, it’s unfair that I introduced you all and now you all love each other more than you love me.” Mark pouts playfully, looking away from the screen and sniffing to add an over dramatic flair to it.

“Oh sweetcheeks, don’t worry. Soon we’ll see each other.” Jeno replies back, nodding with a vehement conviction that would make it seem like he’s being serious, but the tilting corner of his lips betray it. “This is just a summer love - my love for you is for life.”

“Sweetcheeks?” Mark asks, eyebrows raising as he holds back his laughter, and at the same time Donghyuck half-heartedly protests “Hey!”

Jeno dismisses Donghyuck with a wave of his hand, puckering his lips for a second and then blowing Mark a kiss. “Would you prefer honeybunch?”

“You’re insufferable. Why are we friends again?” 

Jeno doesn’t even bat an eye to reply. “Because you needed someone to keep the bullies from getting your lunch money.”

“Fuck off, fuck all the way off.” Mark can’t help but chuckle now, and then just straight up cackles when he sees Jisung half-unimpressed, half-amused expression.

“I don’t have any reason to be friends with any of you, and yet.” He comments, deadpan, reaching for something next to him where he seems to be sitting on his chair, but they all know he doesn’t mean anything by it. Being the youngest, he often shows his _tsundere_ tendencies, but give him the right environment with certain circumstances and he’ll be just as bad as the other three.

It’s moments like these that it hits Mark just how much he loves and cares for his friends. How he wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

-

It’s just a little bit past 7pm and Mark’s already saying his goodbyes to his parents when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He doesn’t reach for it instantly, and instead finishes listening to his mom’s reminders to eat well and regularly, and to visit more often. If the call was important, the person would call again; and if it weren’t, he could still call back later. His time with his family is precious.

Ten minutes later and he’s on the cab he got on the way to the mall. Only then does he check his phone, and a small smile appears on his face before he even notices it when he reads “TY”. He hits the call button, knowing that it probably wasn’t anything worryingly immediate if TY hadn’t insisted, and that the older man knew he’d call when he could.

“Hey, babe.” TY doesn’t take long to pick up, and Mark can hear the smile in his voice. His own smile widens.

“Hey, sorry for not picking up earlier. Was at my parents’ place, so I wanted to give them my full attention.” Mark explains, watching as the mall building grows bigger as the cab gets closer to it.

“You don’t have to apologize, you know.” TY replies just as Mark’s digging into his wallet to pay the cab for the ride. He nods in thanks to the man, and steps out. “It’s important to spend time with your family.” And TY almost seems sad when he says it.

“I know, but still.” Is all Mark says, shrugging even if TY can’t actually see it.

A second of silence passes, and then TY asks, “So, what are you doing right now?”

“Well,” Mark starts, “now I’m walking into the mall. I have to pick up a few books I bought online, so I thought I might as well do it on the way back home.”

TY hums thoughtfully. “I’m not so far from where you are right now. I’ve got to finish a few things, but I could give you a ride when I’m done, if you’d like.”

“Sure.” Mark replies, and tries not to point out that he’d very rarely deny a ride, especially if it’s from TY.

“Good. I’ll pick you up in thirty, then?”

Mark’s sure he’ll be done in ten, but he can always get a milkshake and kill some time with one of his new books. “Yeah, definitely. Text me when you’re close so I’ll go to the front of the mall, okay?”

“‘kay.” TY replies, and then his tone turns slightly lower and significatively sweeter. “See you in a bit.” 

The sigh that leaves Mark’s body makes him feel like a lovesick fool, but he finds that he doesn’t actually mind that. “See you.”

Time passes faster than he expected, and soon TY’s texting Mark to tell him that he’s about five minutes away. Finishing his milkshake, Mark discards the cup and gathers his bag with the books and heads to the front of the shopping mall.

He gets there a little over than five minutes, and instantly walks around a bit, trying to find TY’s car. When he doesn’t find it, Mark guesses TY hasn’t arrived yet, and decides to stop and wait for him.

Moments later, an unknown car parks in front of Mark, who frowns, and the driver leans in to speak. “Going my way, sweet thing?” 

Bending down just enough so he can look into the car, Mark snorts, but helplessly chuckles at the sight of TY smirking and throwing him a wink. He answers with a smirk of his own. “Is there any other way to go, daddy?”

Mark’s view isn’t the perfect, especially because the car isn’t necessarily light inside, but he could swear that TY’s eyes turned a bit darker at that. He approaches the car and opens the door, quickly hopping in and putting his bag in the backseat. “Nice car.” He comments, making a mental note to himself to look at the outside of it later. He doesn’t understand much about cars, but he knows how to appreciate beautiful things.

Speaking of beautiful things, he then turns to face TY, who’s looking at him with the most enticing mix of a tender and lustful grin that he’s ever seen, and it makes a shiver run down his spine and a warm feeling settle on the bottom of his abdomen. He leans in to press his wet lips to TY’s chapped ones, one of his hands curling on the back of TY’s neck, and he feels one of TY’s hands sliding down his side to hold his waist.

“Well, a nice car to pick up someone amazing such as yourself makes sense, right?” TY mutters against his lips once they pull away from each other just enough that he can speak.

“Flattery will get you anywhere.” And although his tone is mostly teasing, Mark’s also aware that he's saying it with enough seriousness that he knows, he _knows_ TY instantly catches the deeper meaning of his words. TY lets his tongue run along Mark’s bottom lip, and, giving it another kiss, he pulls away to drive off after the third horn behind his car. Mark leans back, too, putting his seatbelt in place, and soon TY’s right hand is possessively settled over his thigh, fingers resting on the inside of it.

Silent car drives aren’t unusual with them. One of the things that appeals TY to Mark is how he doesn’t feel the need to fill the silence with small talk just for the sake of it; it makes Mark feel more comfortable with him than he ever thought possible. The quietness at moments like this doesn’t make their relationship any less special - in fact, it’s more of the opposite. Mark finds that their ability to enjoy each other’s company while silent being as strong as how easy it is for them to strike a conversation when they feel like it more telling about the bond they’ve grown to share in the last couple of months than anything else.

However, there’s a difference between a normal, silent car drive home, and the thick tension surrounding them right now - and Mark would easily say it’s just him that’s being affected, if it weren’t for the hand TY’s got on the inside and sneaking higher, closer to his crotch with every mile they drive. He can feel his dick hardening inside his pants, the space tightening. The air conditioning is on, and yet he can feel himself getting hotter by the second.

For a few moments, Mark closes his hands so tightly to keep himself from doing something, be it to touch himself or to just pull at TY’s hand to do it himself, the he can feel his short nails digging into the skin of his palm. 

When Mark turns his head to look at TY to know whether he’s the only one affected or not, he finds that though TY can hide it from his expression, the volume on his pants give him away. 

The words spill out of his mouth before he gives it a second thought. “Pull over.”

Before he says it, he has no clue where exactly they are, couldn’t pinpoint it to tell anyone to save their life, but while he ignores TY’s surprised look he takes a look around and he can feel excitement building inside him. The road they’re in is relatively dark and empty enough that he can’t help imagining what they’ll be able to do. He’s never been much of an exhibitionism, and maybe it’s just the lust talking, but at the very least he can get “car sex” out of his - nonexistent - bucket list.

As soon as TY parks the car, Mark slides into TY’s lap like he belongs there, legs bracketing his side with the ease of someone who does it often. He can feel TY’s hands sliding down his back slowly, open palms as to touch as much as he can, until they come to a stop when TY gets two handfuls of Mark’s ass, and he uses the grip he’s got on Mark to pull him closer and press their clothed dicks together.

A moan that he can’t contain escapes Mark’s lips, and Mark can feel TY’s smile pressed against his skin. “Can't wait to get home? Huh?” TY taunts lightly, nipping at Mark's collarbone. Mark writhes in his lap, hands sneaking fast between them to unbuckle TY’s seatbelt and undo his pants.

“TY…”

“We're not far from your place. 15, 20 minutes tops. You can't even wait till then?” TY asks, but they both know he’s not unaffected, that he wants and needs this as much as Mark. Still, he’s the one with the best control of his expressions, and Mark’s way too distracted with getting to TY’s dick to mind the fact that he’s leaving all the dirty talk for TY. “Too eager for me?”

Mark finally manages to pull TY’s nearly fully hard cock out of his pants and, with a smirk that shows he’s up to no good at all, he takes a hold of it just to stroke it once, enjoying the way TY bucks his hips under him. “I’m always eager for you.” He’s teasing, mostly, but he means it, and he starts properly stroking TY to show it. “I need to you to fuck me now, come on.” He both begs and demands, grips TY's shoulders with solid strength and moans when TY moves his hands to his hips only to tighten his hold on him, leaving what Mark’s sure will be bruises come tomorrow morning.

He’s never cared about bruises, especially of this nature, and he isn’t about to mind it now. His whole attention is on TY, on his parted, wet lips, and on his breathy “Yeah, yeah, okay.” As he starts tugging onto Mark’s pants, pulling them open as he brings their mouths together once again.

Their clothes are taken off in a lustful haze. Absentmindedly, Mark notices when TY moves the seat back so as to give them more space, but Mark’s too busy leaving a line of bites and sucks from the crook of TY’s neck to the center of his chest. When he moves to suck on one of TY’s nipples and nips on it, teasing and only a bit mean, well - it’s only natural. TY moans then, low and a little desperate, and one of his hands bury deep into Mark’s hair just to tug hard on it, baring Mark’s neck for him as his free hand blindly searches for something.

TY moves his hips with intent, making their groins move against one another, and he greedily takes Mark’s mouth with his own just to swallow Mark’s groan down, feel it rumble against his chest. Once he finds whatever he’s looking for, he makes his own noise of satisfaction, and Mark pulls away in mild curiosity.

Mark snorts when he sees the bottle of lube in TY’s hand. “Were you actually expecting this to happen?”

TY shrugs awkwardly due to his position, pressing his lips to Mark’s collarbone in just a brush. “Nope, just hopeful.”

“The cockiest of them all.” Mark mutters playfully, eyes as fond as ever. There’s the flash of a smirk curling TY’s lips beautifully, and then Mark feels TY’s free hand taking one of his asscheeks into a tight grip, pulling at it so as to expose him better, and even if he tried Mark wouldn’t be able to hold back the gasp he lets out.

TY doesn’t take long fingering him, which Mark would easily consider an act of mercy if he wasn’t aware of how TY was as desperate for it as Mark, maybe even more. TY, ever the tease, would easily drag it out were they somewhere else, in another moment, and if he wasn’t so desperate to fuck Mark into oblivion. He didn’t budge when Mark asked and begged and even tried to order him to stop the teasing, only smiling condescendingly as he let three of his fingers slide back into Mark’s hole once again as he had been doing for the last five minutes, completely disregarding Mark’s words.

Now, however, he makes quick work of fingering Mark, all the while making the best use of his mouth possible, kissing Mark, whether it’s on his lips or on his jawline or neck or chest.

“God, TY, please.” Mark begs, a moan nearly cutting the last word. He feels TY smiling breathlessly against his neck.

“You don’t have to say my name twice.”

“You’re such a fucking idiot, I swear.” Mark digs his nails on the skin of TY’s shoulders, feeling TY’s groan more than hearing it. TY only chuckles slightly, shoving his fingers back into Mark harder than the younger man expected and smiling wider when Mark pushes back against it, asking for more.

When Mark sinks onto TY’s dick, their groans are so in sync Mark wonders, idly and too high on pleasure to make much sense, how close they are to actually being one, so intrinsically buried deep in each other, TY more literally than Mark. He moves his hips with slow yet with intent, only slightly indecisive between making it last or bringing them to the release they both want so badly before deciding on the latter.

He can feel a droplet of sweat sliding down his back, too aware of the fact that it’ll soon dry with the constant cold air provided by air conditioner. TY’s hands are on his hips, and Mark can feel his fingers on the low of his back, holding him as to have enough leverage to lift his hips to meet Mark. Both of them have their hair sticking to their foreheads and back of their necks with dry sweat, and Mark’s hands on TY’s shoulders are only slightly sweaty. He feels messy, wild, reckless. He feels so thoroughly changed, turned upside down and inside out, and he realizes, then and there, that while he may have been lost before a crazy path in life took him by force, now he knows where he is and where to go from here.

Riding the one he’s falling in love with is not a normal moment for existential enlightenments, Mark will admit later; but at the time, it only makes him bury his face into TY’s neck and move faster on TY’s dick, lifting himself and then dropping on TY’s lap, ignoring the burn of his thighs and calves.

Mark comes with TY’s hand around his cock and TY’s come warm inside him, slowly softening cock still in place. TY’s drawing him in for a kiss, one that’s less desperation and more sentiment than anything else, and that's what completely undoes him: the softness with which TY touches his face, the tenderness in the way he sucks onto Mark's bottom lip and worries it between his teeth.

“Best way to break in a new car.” TY mutters once they’ve come down from their high. Mark can’t help snorting, shaking his head in disbelief, but he doesn’t say anything. He’s still feeling a bit boneless, as good sex usually leaves him, so he doesn’t even protest when TY slips out of him, and just presses his face to TY’s collarbone.

Mark lets TY clean the two of them with a flannel after Mark makes him swear it’s sterile with three words and raised eyebrows. TY moves him back to his seat gently, and both of them go, unhurriedly, about getting dressed again. When Mark’s done, he looks over at TY settling the seat back into its correct place and waits for him to meet his eyes. There’s this feeling in his chest, burning, _burning_ , but in that way that makes him feel like he’s this close to bursting, and he doesn’t want to, wants to keep it to himself, selfish that he is. He thinks what he’s feeling is love.

“By the way, that reaction from earlier-” Mark starts, once a thought from earlier pops back into head and he’s not feeling too lazy anymore. “-you’re not gonna ask me to call you ‘daddy’ now, are you?” He throws a lopsided grin in the mix and enjoys watching TY roll his eyes, so overly fond of him that he’d find it cheesy if he weren’t the object of such fondness. TY pinches the inside of his thigh where his hand had come back to rest on again, and Mark chuckles warmly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> best friends jeno and jisung finally make an appearance! also, smut! tell me what you think of it, drag me if you must~~~ i mean, jk but if you do it pls do it kindly lmao


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